Key Congress Leader Probes PM’s Silence After Indian Defence Ministry Denies Deal With NSO Group

India's opposition parties are always taking aim at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led federal government over the Pegasus snooping scandal. There has been a continual clamour from all these parties to discuss the issue in Parliament and the Supreme Court is also hearing a set of petitions filed by top journalists.

A day after the Indian Defence Ministry denied any dealings with Israeli technology firm NSO Group, the maker of the Pegasus spyware, a key leader of opposition Congress party, Palaniappan Chidambaram, on Tuesday questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remained so silent over the issue.

A former finance minister, Chidambaram said in a tweet that, assuming the defence ministry's claims that it “did not have any transaction” with the NSO Group were true, this only absolves one ministry/department from suspicion.

He said: “Only PM Modi can answer on behalf of all the ministries/departments. Why is he silent?”

MoD has ‘absolved’ itself of any deal with the NSO Group, Israel

Assuming, MoD is correct, that takes out one Ministry/Department.

What about the remaining half a dozen usual suspects?

Only the PM can answer on behalf of ALL ministries/departments. Why is he silent?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 10, 2021

​The denial by the defence ministry in Parliament on Monday came in response to a question by Communist Party of India (Marxist) lawmaker Dr. V. Sivadasan who asked whether the government had carried out any transactions with NSO. 

In a written reply, junior defence minister Ajay Bhat said that the Ministry of Defence "has not had any dealings with NSO Group Technologies".

In another important development on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India adjourned the hearing on a batch of pleas seeking a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiry into the Pegasus snooping controversy to 16 August.

India’s top court told the petitioners not to take part in “parallel debates on social media”.

“Nobody should cross the limit and all will be given the opportunity in the case. We are not against debates, but when the matter is in court, it should be deliberated here," the Bench - led by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana - said.

Last week, during the first hearing in this matter, the court observed allegations that the spyware was being used to target opposition leaders, journalists and activists, were "serious if newspaper reports are correct".

Last month, according to reports published by a media consortium, the Pegasus spyware was used by a client of Israeli firm NSO Group to snoop on 300 Indian phone numbers, including journalists, politicians, government officials, activists and bureaucrats.

India's opposition parties and media organisations have demanded an independent probe into the "snoopgate", while India's government denied any involvement.