Claiming that “the voice of the opposition is suppressed in parliament”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Interior Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday of damaging India’s democracy by using “Pegasus versus India, its institutions”.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with the leaders of the opposition parties, Gandhi said the opposition only had one question: whether the Indian government bought? Israeli spyware Pegasus to use it as a “weapon against one’s own people”.
Gandhi asked why the subject could not be discussed in the house. He stressed that the opposition does not disrupt parliamentary procedures by addressing the issue, but “only fulfilling our responsibilities”.
Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in Vijay Chowk after meeting opposition leaders. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)
“We’re just asking if the government bought Pegasus and spied on Indians,” said the congressional chairman. He claimed that the Pegasus dispute was “not a question of privacy” but “anti-national work”.
“Narendra Modi, Amit Shah struck the soul of Indian democracy by using Pegasus against India, its institutions,” said Gandhi.
On Tuesday, Gandhi chaired a meeting with several opposition leaderswho decided to put pressure on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government over the Pegasus series and to issue adjournment notices in the Lok Sabha.
Opposition sources claimed the government had signaled that it was ready to discuss any subject except the Pegasus revelations. The move to the government to the roar in the Lok Sabha. push two bills through on Monday also enraged opposition parties.
Several great personalities took part in the meeting, including the Congress Leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, TR Baalu and Kanimozhi from DMK, Supriya Sule from the NCP, Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena, Thomas Chazhikadan from Kerala Congress (M), the Hasnain Masoodi from the National Conference, NK Premachandran from the RSP, ET Mohd Basheer from the Muslim League and S Venkatesan and AM Ariff from the CPM.
During the meeting, some of the opposition leaders argued that the message that needs to be sent to the BJP should be the unity of the opposition and that there should be no divisions or misunderstandings between them. A leader, sources said, spoke about the need to more aggressively disrupt the House of Representatives, arguing the government was able to do business despite the slogan.
Earlier in the day that Lok Sabha was adjourned after the riot of the opposition. The Rajya Sabha was also postponed due to slogans from opposition members about the Pegasus snooping line, farm laws and price increases.
– With entries from PTI, ANI