Had Pegasus On My Phone, Indian Democracy Under Attack: Rahul Gandhi On Snooping Issue At Cambridge

During a week-long United Kingdom visit, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the institutional framework required for democracy is becoming constrained and the basic structure of Indian democracy is under attack. Moreover, he said that the government is using Pegasus to spy on him.

He claimed that he had been warned by the intelligence officers to be “careful” while speaking on the phone as his calls were being recorded.

The Congress MP, Rahul Gandhi, who is a Visiting Fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School (Cambridge JBS), delivered the lecture to students at the university on the subject of ‘Learning to listen in the 21st Century.’

Rahul Gandhi on Pegasus

In his address at Cambridge University Rahul Gandhi said, “I myself had Pegasus on my phone. A large number of politicians had Pegasus on their phones. I have been called by intelligence officers who told me, ‘Please be careful about what you are saying on the phone because we are sort of recording the stuff. So this is the constant pressure that we feel. Cases on the Opposition. I have got a number of criminal liable cases for things that should under no circumstances be criminal liable cases. That’s what we are trying to defend.”

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Gandhi accuses Govt.

Moreover, Mr Gandhi has also accused the government of capturing, controlling the media and judiciary, surveillance, intimidating, attack on minorities, Dalits and Tribals and shutting down dissent.

Rahul alleged further that constraints were being put on the Parliament, press and the Judiciary in the country. “Everybody knows and it’s been in the news a lot that Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack. I am an Opposition leader in India, we are navigating that (Opposition) space. The institutional framework which is required for a democracy — Parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, moving around — all are getting constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy,” the Congress MP alleged.