"The standing committee has the right to question government secretaries," Shashi Tharoor said
As the controversy over the Pegasus spyware sparking row, Congress MP and chairperson of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology Shashi Tharoor on Friday demanded a sitting Supreme Court judge-led judicial probe into the matter.
"We have two agenda items: Citizen's data privacy and security and cybersecurity. This ''Pegasus Project'' issue comes under these agendas. The standing committee has the right to question government secretaries. We demand a sitting Supreme Court judge-led judicial probe," Shashi Tharoor told ANI.
Earlier today, Congress, DMK and Shiv Sena MPs protested against the alleged Pegasus snooping controversy in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises.
The protesting MPs demanded a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe in this matter. The MPs carried banners with the slogan "#Pegausus Snoop Gate".
Attacking the Centre, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Pegasus spyware is an Israeli classified weapon that the government has used against the institutions of the country.
"Pegasus is classified by the Israeli state as a weapon and that weapon is supposed to be used against terrorists. The Prime Minister and Home Minister have used this against the Indian state and against our institutions," said Rahul Gandhi.
"They have used it politically...They have used it in Karnataka. They have used it to scuttle probes. They have used it against Supreme Court... They have used it against all the institutions of this country. The only word for this is treason. There is no other word for this," added the Congress leader.
On Thursday, TMC MP Santanu Sen snatched the statement on Pegasus matter from Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Rajya Sabha and tore it into pieces, amid the ongoing standoff over the Pegasus issue between the Centre and Opposition.
The Opposition has alleged that names of several Indian politicians, journalists, lawyers, and activists have appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware. This comes following reports published in The Wire.