NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, AUG 3
Protesting against the alleged use of the Pegasus spyware by the government to snoop on political rivals, Opposition parties displayed specially-designed posters in seven different languages in both houses of Parliament on Tuesday, demanding a discussion on the issue.
Wednesday.
Thursday.
Friday.
Come. Discuss. #PegasusSnoopgate
Opposition is waiting #ParliamentMonsoonSession https://t.co/A2XnkziSfD— Derek O'Brien | ডেরেক ও'ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) August 3, 2021
Conceptualised by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and brought to fruition by different parties, the posters asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah if they had purchased the spyware.
It also offered choices for them to tick on – “yes” or “no”.
While a Communist Party of India (CPI) MP oversaw the Malayalam version, the Tamil poster was approved by a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Sanjay Singh proof-read the Hindi version.
The Urdu version was checked by TMC’s Nadeem-Ul-Haq. A Congress MP from Assam proof-read the Assamese version, while the Marathi poster was overseen by a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP. Another Congress MP from Karnataka took care of the poster in Kannada.
Sources said the Opposition MPs tried to make sure that the posters were visible on television by positioning themselves at key areas in both houses.
Earlier last week, TMC MP and leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien had alleged that the Opposition protests were not being shown on RS TV.
“#Parliament 2 pm. Today. Please watch. Will Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV CENSOR Opposition voices as we attempt to raise this serious issue #Pegasus,” he said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha barely functioned on Tuesday amidst protests by the Opposition over the Pegasus snooping controversy and farmers’ issues.
