By Ranjona Banerji
The New York Times last week added to the formidable work done on Pegasus Spyware through an investigation which revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi bought the controversial spyware from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a deal done in 2017, as part of a larger arms deal.
This interview with the New York Times reporter who broke the story, by The Wire’s Siddharth Varadarajan, has all the details, for those who do not have an NYT subscription:
“The secret deal between India and Israel for the sale of Pegasus in 2017 was struck at the ‘highest levels’ of each country’s political and intelligence leadership and flowed from the Modi government’s ‘specific interest’ in and ‘specific emphasis’ on acquiring the controversial spyware, Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman told The Wire on Monday.”
https://thewire.in/diplomacy/indian-leadership-showed-specific-interest-in-pegasus-paid-millions-for-multi-year-contract
(The Wire was part of the international media consortium which broke the Pegasus story last July.)
This gives the lie to the Indian government’s claim that it has not used the spyware on citizens, especially journalists and civil rights activists and the statement in Parliament by the IT minister that “no unauthorised surveillance can occur”.
The first response of the Modi government of course was to tarnish the New York Times. In an absolutely absurd statement, General VK Singh, minister of state for civil aviation, call the New York Times “supari media”. This is the cheap sort of Mumbai gangster language used by the BJP and its cohorts, whether in Constitutional positions or not, to try and discredit all critiques. Let us not forget that words like “presstitutes” are commonly used as slurs by such politicians, thus abusing anyone who is more honourable than them, whether journalists or sex workers. However, let us also remember that VK Singh is a much-medalled former army chief. Such high standards in his language!
The fact unfortunately remains that there is substantial evidence that the Indian government used military-grade spyware developed by Israel’s NSO group for use against terrorists, to specifically target journalists, civil rights activists and a few politicians especially those critical of the Modi government and the BJP and possibly those within it had some reason to suspect.
Of the nations mentioned in the Pegasus Project report by a consortium of international media houses including The Wire, led by French media agency, Forbidden stories and Amnesty International, most have instituted some sort of inquiry into the use of Pegasus by their own agencies. This ironically includes Israel. India is the one large nation which stands out for resisting proper internal investigation, has consistently cried ignorance and innocence. And now that the matter has gone to the courts is using the “sub judice” excuse to try and tide over the accusations.
For the media, however, the lack of understanding within of what this spyware means remains a massive obstacle. This is not just about spying and tracking and invasion of privacy. This is about false information being inserted into your electronic equipment, which can later be used to incriminate you. This is about the essence of democracy itself being subverted.
https://www.thequint.com/podcast/pegasus-spyware-how-damning-are-the-revelations-of-the-nyt-report#read-more
Sadly, as we have seen consistently since 2014, media cheerleaders of totalitarian rule are unable to see the massive threat to themselves if they allow governments – any governments – to get away with this. Governments can be brought down for less, and yet we in the media are unable to comprehend something as basic as this.
Even now, newspaper and television headlines hide behind the “Opposition demands” “Opposition set to corner” form of news.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/amid-the-latest-pegasus-spyware-revelations-the-budget-session-is-set-for-a-stormy-start/article38350039.ece
What is the media’s own response however? We need more reports from the Indian media, more stories telling us what is going on, not less. Why should The New York Times have to be the one investigating this deal between Modi and Netanyahu? Where is the Indian media in this? What hat Modi wore to the Republic Day parade is hardly a substitute for proper journalism.
Follow up stories are important and we have a few of those:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/digital-trail-points-to-pegasus-state-role-experts-told-sc-panel-7750425/
But what we need is much more. When the media decides that a fascist state is acceptable and that media surveillance by the government must be tolerated happily, what is left?
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.