Modi govt buying new spyware to target journalists and Opposition, says Congress

It seems the Modi government has found a replacement for the much-reviled Pegasus software it had allegedly used to spy on journalists and activists critical of the government.

While addressing a press conference in Delhi on Monday, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the government had spent a staggering "Rs 986 crore of taxpayers' money" on new software Cognit, which will be used to target journalists and Opposition leaders.

"The two spies of this country don't have faith in anyone. Neither their own, nor the NGOs, the courts, the civil society, or the media. When they were in their own state (Gujarat), the way they used the police and the intelligence network for snooping is known to all. Now that they are here, they have continued to spy on people. They use crores of taxpayers' money on spyware and similar technology," Pawan Khera said.

"Has the Modi government now bought a new spyware to snoop, spy and surveil individuals and institutions?" asked the Congress media chairman.

Khera alleged that these institutions include: the opposition parties, NGOs, media houses, civil rights activists, the judiciary, Election Commission, and every other institution that protects democracy.

Referring to a report published in a newspaper, Khera said that the Modi government has already bought the spyware equipment from 'Cognyte' –an alternative to 'Pegasus'.

"Cognyte regularly targeted journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition, and human rights activists around the world, without their knowledge, and collected intelligence on these people by manipulating them to reveal information and/or by compromising their devices and accounts," a US law firm Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP had said about the Cognyte.

Asserting that through the Ministry of Defence, the Modi government has already bought some communication equipment from Pegasus alternative 'Cognyte', as the trade data reflects, Khera asked, "Is the Modi government in advanced stages of deliberations to finalise new spyware, which is lesser known, low key and not blacklisted by various foreign countries? Is it true that the Ministry of Defence has also started working for a 'Request for Proposal' (RFP) regarding the same?"