After evoking the communal riots angle and the bogus Ram Mandir land scam, the left-liberal cabal of the country has employed the services of the international lobby to further its agenda ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, scheduled to be held next year. To discredit the Narendra Modi government and in turn weaken the voter base of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who appears set to steamroll the opposition — the brigade is now using the Pegasus spyware scandal to create an unfavourable narrative against the Modi government.
Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones. Reported by TFI, as per ‘propaganda portal’ The Wire’s report, France-based media non-profit, Forbidden stories and Amnesty International had first accessed the list and thereafter shared the same with 16 news organisations worldwide, The Wire being one of them.
As soon as the report was out, Indian media and opposition launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government accusing it of infringing upon their privacy rights. Curiously, this report was released a day before the Monsoon session of the parliament started where PM Modi was set to introduce his new cabinet ministers post the grand reshuffle.
However, all the reader needs to know about the authenticity of the report can be ascertained from the below para of the Guardian report that seemingly blew the lid of ‘one of the greatest snooping scandals’ ever: “The presence of a phone number in the data does not reveal whether a device was infected with Pegasus or subject to an attempted hack. However, the consortium believes the data is indicative of the potential targets NSO’s government clients identified in advance of possible surveillance attempts.”
Meaning that the number list accessed by Forbidden stories and Amnesty International doesn’t necessarily translate that these individuals were snooped but since it helps peddle a persuasive and simultaneously a fallacious story, the left-liberal publications picked up this insinuation and churned one article after another to defame the Modi government.
NSO, the Tel-Aviv based firm that owns the spyware Pegasus has already called out The Wire and other platforms for twisting the facts. NSO is now planning to file a defamation suit against such companies.
“…we are writing to put The Wire on written notice of NSO Group’s substantial concerns regarding the false and damaging nature of the proposed articles—and the risks that The Wire faces should it decide to publish the proposed articles (or excerpts of the proposed articles,” NSO said in its statement before adding, “In fact, these allegations are so outrageous and far from reality that NSO is considering a defamation lawsuit,”
NSO group is considering a defamation suit on the writers of the #Pegasus story as it is not based on facts and there is no supporting documentation to the claims. https://t.co/vXUKKpO2ZF
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) July 19, 2021
The extent of misinformation and propaganda can be gauged from the fact that out of the 50,000 alleged hacked phones, only a handful of 37 phones may have shown signs of initiation of a surveillance attempt. Keyword being ‘initiation’, there is still no concrete proof that the said left-liberals sepoys, masquerading as ‘journalist’ and ‘activists’ were even spied upon.
Initially I was not aware of this staggering detail but since I have read it, I am shocked. Unable to believe the level of worldwide breach!
According to @washingtonpost, they confirm that only 37 phones worldwide, just 37, MAY DISPLAY initiation of surveillance attempts. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/m3JT0L94Qt
— Akhilesh Mishra (मोदी का परिवार) (@amishra77) July 19, 2021
The mighty government of India spends millions and billions in surveillance and gathering intel about its enemies through dedicated intelligence agencies. To insinuate that it would now use a third-party app to spy on 37 inconsequential twitter thumb twiddlers seems pretty daft but the liberal cabal believes it to be true with utmost sincerity.
And when former Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned that when the majority of targets were in western countries and yet India was being dragged into the middle of the controversy, news publications like NDTV carried a cleverly crafted part of his statement to fuel the anti-government narrative.
“If Over 45 Countries Use Pegasus, Why Target Just India?” read the NDTV report headline, whereas the full statement of RS Prasad was as follow according to the same report, “The NSO, which is the manufacturer of Pegasus, has clearly said that its clients are mostly Western nations. So why is India being targetted in this matter? What is the story behind this? What is the twist in the tale?”
Congress, the supposed principal opposition party of the country could not keep quiet and joined the bandwagon by claiming that even Rahul Gandhi’s phone was hacked. Whether Rahul Gandhi’s phone was hacked or not is a different discussion but it is a bit sanctimonious coming from Congress, given that an RTI filed by one Prosenjit Mondal in 2013 revealed that around 9,000 phones and 500 email accounts were watched every month by the UPA government at the time. The response was given by none other than the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on August 6, 2013.
“On an average, between 7,500 to 9,000 orders for interception of telephones and 300 to 500 orders for interception of emails are issued by Central Government per month whereas.” The RTI revealed.
Moreover, it is pertinent to note that Amnesty International had packed its bags, uprooted its tent and ran with its tail between its legs when the government started following the paper trail of its dubious funding. Amnesty had been infamous for its anti-India activities and thus it doesn’t come as a surprise that the organisation is trying to create some waves.
By hook or crook, the opposition and the left establishment wants to drag down the government. The eye is on the UP elections and if BJP ends up winning it, that would be the apparent death knell for the opposition in the 2024 General elections.