Kolkata: Ahead of leaving for the national capital West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a special cabinet meeting passed appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Pegasus snooping scam.
Talking to the media, Mamata said that since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Central government has failed to set up a commission for the same, West Bengal is the first state to set up such a commission.
“Former Justice of Supreme Court MB Lokur and former Calcutta High Court Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya will look after the commission. They will see how the snooping scam started and who all are on the list. Several journalista and people from judiciary along with politicians’ phones were hacked. Other states also should start the commission,” said Mamata adding that TMC government had set the model.
According to the state government notification, the Commission of Inquiry will have to submit its report within 6 months. They will enquire about the mechanism of the spyware or malware that has been used and is still being used, how Pegasus is being used, investigate the circumstances like instigation/provocation and also enquire into the role of state/non-state actors.
Notably, in keeping with to the 2024 Lok Sabha election, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is not leaving any stones unturned to woo the people and uniting the opposition parties against the BJP.
Incidentally, Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on July 27 at 4 pm (according to TMC sources)and is also expected to meet all the opposition party leaders to set up an anti- Modi front.
Meanwhile, no sooner did the TMC supremo leave for the national capital than the TMC leaders started a new hashtag trending on Twitter claiming ‘Ab ki baar Didi Sarkar’ (This time it is Didi’s government).
Slamming the move, West Bengal BJP spokesperson alleged that the TMC government for the last 10 years have been hacking people’s phone and also that the Pegasus issue was purposely busted by the oppositions just to disrupt the monsoon session of the parliament.
“Our former state president Rahul Sinha had several times complained about his phone being hacked. Even Mukul Roy moved the HC against this. In Bengal no journalist can talk to any leaders on normal call as most of their phones are tapped,” said Shamik Bhattacharya.
Countering BJP’s claim, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had claimed that he has all the recording of Abhishek Banerjee’s office.
Meanwhile, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’ Brien took to Twitter and said, “Journalists, political opponents, members of the judiciary, cabinet colleagues... now, not even the ARMY spared. There is no ambiguity here. This is a CRIME. Who is responsible ? #Pegasus Discus this in #Parliament today. PM-HM must answer.”
