On Thursday, Congress MP Manickam Tagore gave a notice to stop all other proceedings and had a discussion on the Pegasus issue in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The Pegasus spyware issue has turned into a political controversy, disrupting the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha since the start of the Monsoon session on July 19. The opposition wants all other important issues to be put on hold and focus solely only on Pegasus spyware issue.
In the last few months, Rahul Gandhi led opposition has tried to stir multiple controversies like the issue of Farm laws, Rafale, Bharat Biotech and Pegasus and all these issues have proved to be nothing but a failure just like the political aspirations of the opposition. The absence of valid criticism against the Centre has once again taken them back to the Pegasus controversy. While the government has been repeatedly saying it is ready to debate every issue, but the Congress and TMC leaders have accused that the Treasury benches that they want to discuss neither the farm laws nor the Pegasus.
The opposition is creating a ruckus in the monsoon season but ironically, tracing back to 2011 when late Pranab Mukherjee was Finance Minister in Dr Manmohan Singh’s government, he had complained that his office room in North Block was bugged. In fact, secret microphones were found hidden inside his office. The “snoopgate” in Gujarat (2013), audiotapes recorded allegedly of the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s aide Amit Shah, of purported conversations of a woman architect was leaked.
Keeping in mind the current scenario, there are bigger concerns the Centre has to deal with; amidst the unnecessary chaos, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Lok Sabha proceedings on 30th July; introduced the ‘General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021’ in the House. Forest and Environment and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav introduced the ‘Commission Bill, 2021’ for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas. Even though Presiding Chairman Rajendra Agrawal appealed to the opposition members to go to their places and participate in the proceedings as important bills are to be discussed, the opposition continued their uproar regarding the Pegasus.
The Congress party has a history of involvement in the politics of snooping. The Pegasus issue is getting highlighted as it is the latest one, perhaps the most widespread and sophisticated. The opposition is using the Pegasus issue as a mere election strategy, just like the Rafale controversy during the 2019 election. The bogus Pegasus spyware is just one of the many scandals that churned up the opposition which will die out soon due to the absence of any concrete and foolproof evidence. The desperate attempts of Congress to generate buzz around the story seems never-ending as they do not have any valid criticism against the Centre. It is high time Congress should focus on something constructive rather than beating around the bush and wasting the Centre’s time.
