Ask Israel If They Have Advanced Version of Pegasus: Opposition Criticises PM Modi Over Snooping Row

On Friday, the American newspaper, The New York Times, reasserted its claim that India's federal government cocluded a deal with Israel's NSO Group in 2017 to buy Pegasus software and used taxpayer money to purchase the military-grade spyware. A claim that the Indian government has categorically rejected.

Senior Congress politician P Chidambaram on Sunday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message about the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Israel amid a row over the Pegasus snooping controversy.

On Saturday, Narendra Modi issued a video message where he congratulated India and Israel, marking 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to check if Israel has any advanced version of the Pegasus spyware.

The last deal was for $2 billion. India can do better this time. If we get more sophisticated spyware ahead of the 2024 elections, we can give them even $4 billion

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 30, 2022

According to a report in The New York Times, the Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the "centrepieces" of a roughly $2 billion deal involving sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017.

Reacting to the NYT report, Minister VK Singh on Saturday questioned the report's authenticity and called it paid media.

Can you trust NYT?? They are known " Supari Media ". https://t.co/l7iOn3QY6q

— General Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) January 29, 2022

The Pegasus row first erupted in July 2021 after a consortium of media outlets (including The New York Times) reported that Indian ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen, and journalists had potentially been spied upon using the spyware. The list of snooping targets 300 Indians and also reportedly includes Congress parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi.