Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership has decided to go all out and start a pan-India movement against the Central government over the Pegasus spyware controversy, as the names of the party’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee and vote strategist Prashant Kishor have figured in the list of the targets of surveillance by the Israeli firm, NSO.
Trinamool Congress agitation on this issue has started both in Kolkata and New Delhi from Tuesday. On one hand in New Delhi, Trinamool Congress has protested against the Central government both within and outside the Parliament. On the other hand, Trinamool Congress’s students’ wing, Trinamool Chhatra Parishad had organized a rally demonstration in the heart of Kolkata.
Read:| Will not allow both houses to run until BJP govt answers on Pegasus: TMC
Phone tapping and surveillance are such issues that have been raised by Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee several times. Be it against the earlier Left Front government in West Bengal as the then opposition leader, be it against the current Central government as the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee had been vocal on the phone tapping and surveillance issue several times before. And now according to the latest report, names of Abhishek Banerjee and Prashant Kishor have figured in the list of individuals who were clandestinely kept under surveillance.
Now the Trinamool Congress is claiming that that the long-standing complaint of the Chief Minister on the phone tapping and surveillance issue has become true. Speaking on this issue, Trinamool Congress’s national spokesman and the party’s leader in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien said that the Central government should come out with a clear explanation on why this surveillance was conducted.
Read:| Monsoon Session: Furore in both Houses over Pegasus row
“This is proof that the BJP-led Central government cannot rely on plain and simple politics. The Central government should answer since when such surveillance had been going on? Did it start since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel,” he questioned. Trinamool Congress has also demanded an immediate enquiry on this issue. However, the party leadership feels that since the Parliamentary probe is a delaying process, they do not want such a probe in the matter.
Similarly, in central Kolkata, on Tuesday, Trinamool Congress’s students’ wing, Trinamool Chhatra Parishad had organized a rally demonstration from 11 am to 5 pm. According to Trinamool Chhatra Parishad president, Trinankur Bhattacharya, the current Central government does not believe in Parliamentary democracy. “Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah are so desperate that they have ordered surveillance on Abhishek Banerjee and Prashant Kishor. The word ethics does not exist in their dictionary. This is a black day for Indian democracy. We want a right investigation in this matter,” he said.
Undoubtedly the Pegasus spyware controversy will be a central point of Centre and state politics in the coming days. As more names will be revealed, the more pressure the opposition will try to build up over the Central government. At the same time, Trinamool Congress will also go all out nationally on this issue.
Read:| Congress leaders demand judicial probe into Pegasus row
