Expected to be cornered on the floor of both Houses of Parliament, the government said the issue was being examined. “We are getting it examined. We have taken note of it (allegations) and it is being looked into,” sources in the PMO said.
The prominent political leaders whose phones were allegedly tapped include senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.
The Congress leader, while speaking to reporters at Panchkula in Haryana, said he was not bothered but wanted the government to inquire into the allegations. “I simply do not believe these stories. Tapping someone else’s phone is unethical and illegal, and I have full faith and belief that a government under Dr Manmohan Singh could not have ordered this. But if the story has come out, there must be a proper inquiry,” he said.
The Left said acts like phone-tapping subvert the democratic system and breed an atmosphere of illegality in the higher echelons of government.
“Phone-tapping by the government of political leaders and opponents is a subversion of the democratic system and is totally illegal. The government should explain how this happened and take action against those responsible for this,” Mr Karat said.
Though none of its leaders is in the list of those whose phones were allegedly tapped, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “In the garb of tracking terror, the government is tracking politicians, and even their own Cabinet ministers from alliance partners. Apparently, the government has failed on all fronts, making them seemingly insecure and prompting such despotic actions.” He demanded a “clear statement” on the issue from the Prime Minister and “no one else” in Parliament.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, in a sarcastic poser in Patna, asked “if there existed any terror threat” from him.
CPI leader D Raja said, “I hope that we are not living in a military regime.” Former PM and JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda called the action a very serious issue.
Meanwhile, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and the Union home ministry have begun digging out old records and files. The exercise is being undertaken to check whether the government had cleared the interception of phone calls of certain private individuals in 2007.
The sources said that it is very unlikely that phones of politicians were kept under surveillance. Maintaining that the intelligence agencies are not authorised to monitor phone calls of politicians, the sources said the phone calls of politicians would only come under the surveillance of intelligence agencies or police if he or she talks to a businessman or any other private individual whose phone has been kept under surveillance for security reasons.
The tapping was reportedly done by NTRO, created after the Kargil War. As India comes under increased terror threat, “tech-int” has emerged as an important tool to foil terrorist designs. But the off-the-air GSM/CDMA interceptors can track calls of not just terror suspects, but also of others, politicians included.
Age Correspondent