New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed Tuesday that the central government was hacking the phones of Opposition leaders because they have been vocal about the business practices of billionaire Gautam Adani.
Gandhi was referring to an Apple Inc notification reportedly received by several Opposition leaders since Monday night which said their devices had been targeted by “state-sponsored attackers”.
The Congress MP read out parts of the notification before the media Tuesday, and said Adani was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “soul”.
“No matter how much we attack Narendra Modi, it doesn’t have any effect. That is because the soul is somewhere else…Now, we are attacking the soul,” he added.
Speaking at the Congress headquarters, Gandhi said several party leaders had received the notification, including K.C. Venugopal, Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate.
Leaders of other political parties had also received the alert, he further said, naming Sitaram Yechury, Akhilesh Yadav, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Mahua Moitra, Raghav Chadha, and T.S. Singh Deo. “There is a whole list. All of them are in some way or the other involved in this matter (taking on Adani),” he added.
Gandhi said the Opposition would not be browbeaten by the snooping. “You can tap as much as you want. It doesn’t matter to us… Nor to me. You can take my phone if you want to.”
#WATCH | Delhi: On multiple opposition leaders allege 'hacking' of their Apple devices, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says "…Earlier, I used to think number 1 is PM Modi, number 2 is Adani and number 3 is Amit Shah, but this wrong, number 1 is Adani, number 2 is PM Modi and number 3… pic.twitter.com/2k80NUmloX
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2023
Several Opposition leaders and at least one journalist — The Wire co-founder Siddharth Varadarajan — have claimed to have received warning messages from Apple which said “state-sponsored attackers” were trying to remotely target their phones.
The Apple email, shared on social media by multiple Opposition leaders, stated that these attackers were likely targeting them “because of who you are or what you do”.
“If your device is compromised by a state-sponsored attacker, they may be able to remotely access your sensitive data, communications or even the camera and the microphone,” it said.
The company is said to have claimed the warning may be a “false alarm”, but nonetheless urged politicians and journalists to take it seriously.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also got the warning, she said on X, tagging the Union Home Ministry in her post. “Wonder who? Shame on you,” she headlined it.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said: “@HMOIndia — get a life. Adani & PMO bullies – your fear makes me pity you.” Moitra added she would write about the issue to Lok Sabha speaker, Om Birla, urging him to follow “Raj Dharma” and call Union Home ministry officials in the matter.
Writing officially to @loksabhaspeaker @ombirlakota requesting he follow RajDharma to protect Opposition MPs & summon @HMOIndia officials ASAP on our phones/email being hacked. Priveleges Committee needs to take up. @AshwiniVaishnaw this is real breach you need to worry about.
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 31, 2023
Incidentally, Moitra has recently been summoned by the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on allegations that she took bribes to ask questions on the Adani Group.