Prime Time
Do we have another snoopgate?
The Whatsapp-Pegasus controversy in which Israel’s NSO spyware was allegedly used to ‘snoop’ on Indian journalists, activists and maybe even politicians, dominated prime time.
On NDTV 24×7, anchor Sreenivasan Jain asked whether the hack had targeted dissent, India Today’s Rahul Kanwal called it the ‘Whatsapp Spygate’.
Marya Shakil on CNN-News 18 wondered, “How secure is your WhatsApp?”, Times Now saw Rahul Shivshankar try to balance the government’s point of view against strong criticism from lawyer Sanjay Hegde and journalist Sanjeev Srivastava on `#IndiaSpygateDisclosure’.
For Hindi channels, Kashmir and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were trending on Aaj Tak, ABP and Zee News.Republic Bharat discussed the clash between BJP and AAP over a Chhath Pooja ghat in Delhi.
Republic TV: Anchor Arnab Goswami’s debate asked possibly the most burning question of the day: ‘Where does Rahul Gandhi hide? Why the secrecy over meditation?’
When Goswami explained how The Beatles visited India to meditate, Anand Ranganathan, author and scientist, turned witty. “Maybe there’s a connection between ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ (LSD) and Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
Political analyst Syed Asad Abbas asked the question that was begging to be asked: “Why do you give him so much attention? He isn’t the Leader of Opposition.’’
“Rahul Gandhi is quite clearly in retirement mode, if he is in retirement mode, he should go,” observed BJP’s Tuhin Sinha.
Times Now: On ‘The Newshour’, anchor Padmaja Joshi asked “Has the BJP managed to snatch a Congress icon from right under the party’s nose?”
Political analyst Ashutosh said, “It is a big insult to Sardar Patel if people try and relate him to political parties.”
Hindol Sengupta, author of ‘The Man who Saved India – Sardar Patel and His Idea of India’ said, “…Sardar Patel was a tall Congress leader but if the Congress does not value what is rightfully its (own), then of course somebody else can pick it up and claim it.”
Zee News: On the Bollywood-sounding, ‘Saugandh Sardar ki khaate hain’, anchor Aman Chopra said Patel was forgotten and disrespected by Congress in past 70 years.”
BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia brought Rahul Gandhi into the debate, “…he didn’t find time from his busy meditation schedule to even tweet about Sardar Patel today.”
Suneet Chopra, Communist Party of India (Marxist), remembered Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary: “She sacrificed her life for the nation…why she isn’t being talked about?”
Abdul Razzak Khan of Janata Dal (Secular) reiterated that Patel banned RSS and his ideology was starkly different from Hindutva.
NDTV India had a telling WhatsApp headline — “Shhh…koi hai”.
Cyber security expert Jiten Jain recalled that this wasn’t the first instance of cyber spying: “It has happened multiple times before…but it is unique in the way that it did not require direct user interaction.”
He questioned WhatsApp’s decision to sue the Israel’s NSO group that developed the Pegasus spyware: “Who will you sue — the one who makes poison or the one who gives you the poison?”
Internet Freedom Foundation’s Apar Gupta said, “Judicial oversight is required to ensure data safety. In the name of national security, one cannot put a curfew and compromise with user’s privacy.’’
Front Page
The WhatsApp-Pegasus snooping row is the lead in The Times of India, The Hindu and The Indian Express Friday. Hindustan Times, oddly, buries it in the fold with an unclear headline — “Praful, 40 others among WhatsApp users snooped on”.
And, J&K is finally two union territories – the other main news of the day. The pink papers, on the other hand, headline the highest fall of core infrastructure industries output in 14 years.
Pegasus row: TOI and Hindu highlight the government’s response with similar headlines: “Govt asks WhatsApp to explain breach amid phone snoop row” (TOI), “Govt. questions WhatsApp after spyware is used for snooping” (Hindu). “The Centre has sought an explanation from messaging platform WhatsApp after…[it] confirmed that some Indian users of its app came under surveillance using an Israeli spyware”, writes Hindu.
Express details the people targeted by the spyware on Page 1: “Rights activists and lawyers working in tribal areas, an Elgar Parishad case accused, a Bhima Koregaon case lawyer, a Dalit activist, journalists reporting on defence and strategy ad a Delhi University lecturer” are among those whose phones were targeted, it writes.
HT specifies only in its second paragraph that it was referring to former union minister Praful Patel in its headline and also names former Lok Sabha MP Santosh Bharatiya as a victim of the spyware.
J-K bifurcation: Express and HT both quote Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their headlines. The former writes, “Art 370 temporary wall between Indians, now brought down: PM” while HT reports “J&K, Ladakh officially UTs; historic, says PM”. Hindu treats the momentous change as routine: “LGs take charge in J&K, Ladakh” and carries the report below the fold.
TOI, surprisingly, does not carry the report on its front page.
The papers also use interesting verbs to refer to the reorganisation of the state — Hindu says J&K “became the first state to be reduced to a UT”; Express calls it a “split” and HT writes that the state “formally bifurcated”.
Fall in output of core infrastructure industries: “The output of the core sector fell a record 5.2 per cent in September, with production by seven of the eight industries declining, portending slow economic growth in the second quarter of this fiscal year too,” reports Business Standard in its lead.
Economic Times also make this news its lead — “Core Sector Puts Up Worst Show in 14 years, Shrinks 5.2% in Sept”. Its page 1 graphic details the fallout: a deepening of industrial slowdown and “overall [the] economy may not show improvement in Q2”.
Others: The convicts of the Nirbhaya gangrape case have been sent notices by the Tihar jail administration, stating that “they have exhausted all legal remedies and are only left with the provision of applying for mercy before the President within seven days”, reports Hindu. Express, TOI and HT also feature the news on their front pages.
HT and Hindu carry photographs of a train in Pakistan that caught fire Thursday, killing 74 people.
Opinion
HT: It writes that Twitter’s ban on political ads is a “good first step” to make sure democracy is not distorted. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently announced the ban while stressing on the importance of “credible information”. The timing for this is “significant”, writes HT, as campaigning for the US presidential elections has begun.
Now Twitter needs to implement more “comprehensive reforms”, as Twitter India has often blocked accounts of non-abusive individuals while allowing accounts that issue rape and death threats and endorse communal violence.
TOI: The newspaper says after formal bifurcation, it is now time for New Delhi to fulfil its goal of ensuring “normalcy” in Kashmir.
Kashmiri politicians and activists continue in detention and there are reports of new terror attacks against non-Kashmiris. But militancy cannot be addressed unless “Kashmiris are assuaged”, as there is a great deal of “disaffection” in the Valley. The government must win the “hearts and minds” of Kashmiris and open up political space. Union Home Minister Amit Shah claims that it will not take long to restore J&K statehood once “normalcy” returns. New Delhi should “walk this talk” writes TOI.
I don’t find anything wrong in snooping on the people who are involved in anti india activities.