Ravi Shankar Prasad rejects Congress' allegations on PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah of snooping on Opposition leaders

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New Delhi: Former union minister of IT Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday (July 19) refuted the allegations of snooping levelled by the Congress on the government following the emergence of the Pegasus report.

Calling it a “new low” for the Congress party, Prasad said the allegations were baseless.

“BJP strongly refutes, condemns the baseless and bereft of political propriety comments levelled by Congress against the BJP. It is a new low for a party that has ruled India for more than 50 years,” Prasad said.

Congress has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were involved in snooping on Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, journalists and other citizens. The party even demanded resignation of Shah.

Responding to the charges, Prasad said, “Not a shred of evidence has come that proves any linkage of BJP or GoI in the Pegasus story. And can we deny that bodies like Amnesty had a declared anti-India agenda in many ways? When you ask them their funding source, they say it's difficult to work in India.”

Prasad also questioned the timing of the Pegasus report which broke a day before the start of the monsoon session of the parliament.

“Was it planned to break Pegasus story before Monsoon session to create a new atmosphere?” Prasad asked, adding, “Why these kinds of questions are raised at the time of important events? Riots were incited during Trump's visit, Pegasus story was circulated during 2019 polls and again it's in the news when Parliament is in session and when Congress is in a very bad situation.”

The former minister further said, “The company (NSO Group) is denying it (findings in Pegasus Project report) & saying that most of its products are being used by western countries but India is being targeted.”