Spyware Row Comes Back To Bite The Centre?
As per the mainstream media, two journalists Siddharth Varadarajan(The Wire's founding editor) and Anand Mangnale were targeted with the spyware.
After coming to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party faced many controversies and attracted severe criticism. The alleged usage of spyware against a few political leaders and journalists remains the most severe controversy. Even the Parliament was rocked by the controversy with the opposition parties raising the issue.
The issue even went to the notice of the Supreme Court. A special committee was also formed to look into the allegations. The committee said that it did not find any conclusive evidence of the spyware usage in the devices it had examined. However, the team also said that the Central Government has not cooperated.
Now the old issue had come to bite back the Centre as a report said that 2 journalists were targeted with Pegasus. While confirming the spyware use, the report also mentioned the names of the journalists.
As per the mainstream media, two journalists Siddharth Varadarajan(The Wire's founding editor) and Anand Mangnale were targeted with the spyware. This can be a big weapon for the opposition parties in the campaign.India is gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections which will be held in a few months. Ahead of this, the report claimed that the two journalists' phones were targeted.
The political observers say that this can be a big issue for the BJP government. Earlier the opposition parties irrespective of their stand came under one roof to target the BJP on the spyware. The issue had grabbed the attention of the International media as well.
The spyware row had sent shocking waves all over when Apple had sent alerts to the users of security breaches. A few opposition leaders received alerts and this created a sensation. In 2021, the news on the spyware broke out with the international media carrying out stories.
The BJP has been denying all the allegations and said it has nothing to do with the spyware. Now the issue has taken a big turn with the Amnesty report saying that two journalists' phones were targeted. After examining the devices, the Amnesty report said the spyware was used.