Mumbai:-The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi ally Shiv Sena on Thursday lauded West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for setting up a commission of enquiry into the Pegasus snoopgate that has rocked India and other countries.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre for not heeding the Opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the spygate scam, the Shiv Sena termed Banerjee’s move as “right”.
In sharp edits in the party newspaper ‘Saamana’ and ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’, the Sena said that keeping an eye on ministers, Opposition, judiciary, journalists, lawyers and other citizens to encroach on their private lives was not only a shameless move but a crime.
“This entire matter is related to the country’s national security since only a handful of organisations like IB, RAW, CBI, ED, NCB, CBDC, etc., are involved in such acts. Now, if an Israeli agency like Pegasus enters the scene, then it can undermine the country’s security, but the Centre seems to be giving it a ‘national shelter’. The nation deserves to know the truth,” said the edit.
The Sena added that it was expected the Centre would take stringent action and set up a probe commission, but nothing has been done.
“Mamata Banerjee has become the first state to probe the spygate. Her move is right. It has jolted the Centre and will wake up others,” the Sena said.
Incidentally, just two days back, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole and party MP Suresh Balubhau Dhanorkar made a strong demand to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to set up a commission of retired judges to probe the spyware scandal.
The edits pointed out how other countries like France have also announced a probe into the Pegasus scandal, but yet the Indian Government does not consider the matter as serious — “it appears a bit mysterious”.
Referring to the global expose of how more than 50,000 people around the world were being monitored, the Sena called upon all the countries affected to appoint probe commissions and help unravel the masterminds behind the snoopgate scam.