File photo of rebel YSR Congress Party MLA Kotamreddy Sreedhar Reddy showing his letter to the Center to probe allegations of phone tapping, in Nellore. , photo credit: special arrangement
AleLast year, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed a resolution to set up a committee to trace the erstwhile Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government bought and used the controversial Israeli spyware, Pegasus, Due to incomplete investigation, the matter is not yet settled.
In March 2022, the YSR Congress Party claimed that N. Government led by Chandrababu Naidu had unauthorized access to public data The phones were also tapped, including those of some opposition leaders, for use for election purposes. What started as a whisper in the YSRCP soon turned into a major political storm and gave a tough fight to the TDP.
The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to constitute a seven-member House Committee to investigate “illegal interception of communications, data theft and illegal broadcasting leading to violation of citizens’ rights” during 2016-19.
The House committee held meetings with senior officials of the Departments of Home Affairs and Information Technology and gathered information about the methods through which spyware was procured and used to keep certain individuals, including opposition leaders, under surveillance. The House Committee, headed by Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, submitted its interim report in September 2022. It said there was an unauthorized transmission of public data, which was obtained through covert means. But it also said the seriousness of the crime required a thorough investigation. Accordingly, on March 15, 2023, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Thammineni Sitaram announced that the committee would be given another six months to submit its final report.
But just a month before the committee was given more time to probe the issue in depth, there were fresh allegations of phone tapping from YSRCP’s own MLAs – Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and Anam Ramanaraya Reddy.
The issue gained further attention when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that unlike the TDP government, she had offered Rs 25 crore to buy Pegasus when a delegation from the Israeli company met her. TDP leader Nara Lokesh denied allegations that the government bought spyware.
While the reasons for the complaints of the two legislators may be political, their statements cannot be ignored as they pertain to the privacy of individuals, which the Supreme Court has declared to be a fundamental right and an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty . Article 21 of the Constitution.
Shri Sridhar Reddy has written to Home Minister Amit Shah requesting an inquiry into the incident and is awaiting a reply. Mr. Ramanarayana Reddy, who was among the few close confidantes of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, said that his phones were tapped and his security was reduced, apparently because he raised the banner of rebellion.
The two MLAs may consider it part of a political vendetta launched by their own party, but the issue raised by them, as well as an issue that casts serious doubt on what the TDP government allegedly did in connivance with some private companies produces. A quick and detailed checkup. If anyone is guilty of these charges, punishment must be meted out and a foolproof mechanism must be developed to protect individual privacy and data. The allegations of surveillance on politicians also cannot be ignored. It is a sensitive issue which reminds one of the sensational cash-for-vote scam in Telangana in 2015. Then the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu’s phones were allegedly tapped.
It is pertinent to note that only the agencies of the Central and State Governments are empowered to tap phones in compliance with the stringent norms laid down under the Indian Telegraph Act and that too in exceptional circumstances.
The findings of the House Committee are eagerly awaited. Whether the complaints of the YSRCP MLAs will be taken seriously or dismissed as frivolous and politically motivated, remains to be seen. The facts of such high-profile cases are rarely allowed to emerge. One can only hope that allegations of two rival parties engaging in such wrongdoing will be investigated, that the outcome will be different this time, and that the laws of the land will be upheld.