BSP criticises govt over snooping row, terms it as attack on democratic rights

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday criticised the Center over snooping row and termed it as an "attack on Constitutional and democratic rights".

According to reports, WhatsApp earlier this week revealed that journalists and activists in India have been the target of surveillance by operators using the Israeli spyware Pegasus.

"This is an attack on the citizen's Constitutional and democratic rights that need to be protected. There should be a committee and a white paper should be presented before the nation on the issue," BSP national spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria told ANI here.

He further said, "A committee under the (observation of) Supreme Court should be brought in to protect the democratic rights of all citizens of this country."

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday dubbed the snooping on activists, journalists and political persons as illegal, alleging that the government acquired an Israeli software to spy on citizens.

Whatsaap said that it had reached out to the people who were targetted but declined to reveal the identities and "exact number" of those who were targeted.

On Friday, the Facebook-owned messaging company stated that it remains committed to protecting all messages of its users.

Amid the raging controversy, the government has asked WhatsApp to come out with an explanation on the breach of privacy and list out measures that have been taken to safeguard privacy of millions of Indians.