Ahead of her scheduled Delhi visit where she claimed of having an appointment with the Prime Minister, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has constituted a committee to investigate snooping charges through Pegasus spyware in Bengal.
The probe committee will comprise two retired judges – Justices MB Lokur and Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya.
At a press conference in Nabanna, Miss Banerjee said, “The state government has formed a committee to investigate phone tapping. The decision was taken after the Cabinet’s approval. Supreme Court’s retired judge justice Madan Lokur and former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya are members of the commission which has been formed under the Inquiry Act, 1952.”
She lambasted the Centre reminding that several opposition leaders, journalists and business leaders’ phones have been tapped.
Trinamul Congress has decried such acts during the Monsoon session of the Parliament assuming that the central government will take action on the allegations, she said, adding that since the Centre is unperturbed, she had formed the commission before her Delhi visit.
“We are the first state to constitute a commission. I hope other states will follow. One has to wake people up if they aren’t awake,” she said.
The Trinamul supremo had attacked the Narendra Modi-led Centre for tapping the phones of her nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee and the party’s election strategist Prashant Kishor during her address on ‘Shahid Diwas’.
The Congress has demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe on the issue, asking if the central government wasn’t snooping on numerous targets, then who was since NSO Group has incessantly stressed that it sells Pegasus only to “vetted governments”.
Miss Banerjee’s virtual address which was beamed on giant screen across several states including New Delhi at the Constitution Club where top leaders of the opposition-P Chidambaram of Congress and Sharad Pawar of NCP-were present, indicating the galvanising of rival strength since Bengal CM torpedoed the BJP juggernaut in the Assembly election.
She had been recently elected as the party’s parliamentary party chairperson which will give the seven-time MP more access to opposition leaders and the labyrinth of Delhi corridors.