Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of committing treason.
An investigative report published by The New York Times says that the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had bought the spyware tool Pegasus in 2017, as part of a larger arms deal with Israel.
The spyware was produced by the NSO Group, and is capable of conducting remote surveillance of smartphones. In July 2021, The Washington Post and 16 media partners, including The Wire, led by the Paris-based journalism non-profit Forbidden Stories exposed the usage of Pegasus all over the world.
In India, over 10 cases of Pegasus were detected after the forensic analysis conducted by Amnesty International's Security Lab. India's purchase of the spyware, the NYT report alleges, was part of a "package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion" between the Indian and the Israeli governments.
The report lays out in detail how, from July 2017, Prime Minister Modi had begun to tighten relations with the Israeli government. "In July 2017, Narendra Modi, who won office on a platform of Hindu nationalism, became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel.
For decades, India had maintained a policy of what it called 'commitment to the Palestinian cause,' and relations with Israel were frosty," the report said. It also discusses Modi's 'warm' meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The Modi visit, however, was notably cordial, complete with a carefully staged moment of him and Prime Minister Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach. They had reason for the warm feelings. Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion — with Pegasus and a missile system as the centrepieces," the report said.