Government cannot be given a free pass in name of national security every time: D Raja

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court to form a technical committee to probe the Pegasus spyware case, saying that the government could not be given a free pass in the name of national security every time.

"Government cannot be given a free pass in the name of national security every time. We (CPI) welcome the order of the Supreme Court. We are talking about people's right to privacy and freedom here. Why did the government not come out clearly in the Parliament when this issue was being raised. The government was being dubious, it was not straightforward and truthful to the people and the parliament. Let us hope that the committee will now investigate the matter and bring the truth before everyone," Raja said.

Noting there is no clear stand of the Centre on the Pegasus spyware case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday formed a three-member technical committee to probe the matter. The Technical Committee shall comprise Dr Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Dr Prabaharan P, Dr Ashwin Anil Gumaste. The court also decided to form a three-member committee to oversee the technical committee. The committee will be headed by RV Raveendran, former Supreme Court Judge and also comprise Alok Joshi and Sandeep Oberoi. The committee will oversee a three-member technical committee, comprising cyber security, digital forensics, networks, and hardware.Responding to Home Minister Amit Shah's comments over people's doubts over the multi-party system, Raja said that BJP and RSS do not respect plurality and termed the current regime led by BJP an 'elected autocracy'.

"India is a multi-party, plural democracy. BJP and RSS do not respect that. Yes, they won the elections, but can it be called a success of democracy? It is an elected autocracy, a dictatorship. They are trying to implement their Hindutva ideology which has led to fear and communalism. Speaking at the inaugural session of the National Conference of "Delivering Democracy", the Union Home Minister had said, "After the 1960s and by 2014 people doubted if the multi-party democratic system can be successful... People wondered if the system failed as it didn't yield fruitful results. With great patience, they took a decision and gave power to PM Modi with an absolute majority".

( With inputs from ANI )

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