Cong urges Pranab to intervene in Gujarat snooping case

Egged by support from CPI, NCP, party alleges 93,000 call detail records were accessed by Gujarat police in seven months

Bolstered by the support of political parties like the CPI, Lok Janshakti Party and ally NCP, the Congress today sought the intervention of President Pranab Mukherjee in the stalking and snooping case allegedly at the behest of Narendra Modi. With the recent revelations of former Gujarat officer Pradeep Sharma directly naming Modi, the Congress attempt to keep the issue alive has gathered steam. Congress spokesperson P C Chacko even said that should the Gujarat government, its former Home Minister Amit Shah or its chief minister Modi not respond, the Congress would raise the issue in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament. The Congress has also alleged that 93,000 call detail records have been accessed by the Gujarat police in seven months.

The delegation today, which apart from Mahila Congress leader Shobha Ozha also included civil rights activist from ‘Anhad’, Shabnam Hashmi, CPI leader Annie Raja among others. Annie Raja said that it's an issue which political parties cutting across party lines should take up. Hashmi accused Modi's close aide Amit Shah of committing offences under the Indian Telegraph Act under directions "from Gujarat Chief Minister in running an illegal snooping racket".

What the Congress appears to have taken heart from are media reports revealing that between May 2012 to December 2012 (seven months period)  the Gujarat police had obtained call detail records of 93,000 mobile owners. Senior Gujarat IPS officers wary of the intensive illegal surveillance that they were being made to do had allegedly drafted a draftcode for phone interception but it was trashed by the state government.

Congress senior leaders confess that should the names of all individuals whose call detail records surface, it would reveal the total violation of privacy and the “totalitarian state” that Gujarat is turning into.

“This amounts to 550 interceptions a day,” said Chacko. “It is gross abuse of state machinery and abuse of constitutional authority.

Trashing BJP senior leader Arun Jaitley’s charge that Congress was using disgruntled officers to settle scores with Modi, Chacko said the officers like Singhal, Pradeep Sharma “had all been blue eyed boys of Modi at one point of time. Why are we being blamed ?”

Mahila Congress leader Ozha said, “Modi like a spider has been caught in the net woven by himself” and questioned “does he have moral right to continue as chief minister after this”.

 
Chacko warned that the BJP and its Prime Ministerial candidate had chosen to remain silent and they were hoping that the matter would die out but “If the BJP thinks that they can dismiss it , that won’t happen.”

The Mahila Congress leader categorically stated, “Whether it be Tejpal or Modi, the Congress has zero tolerance for such issues.”