NEW DELHI: In the wake of mounting allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre regarding privacy breaches within the INDIA alliance, Congressโ Member of Parliament from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi, issued a bold challenge to the government, asserting that they will not be deterred.
At a press conference, Rahul Gandhi boldly declared, โVery few people are fighting against this (government snooping) but we will not be deterred. We are not scared. The government can do however much phone tapping as it wants, and if it wants to take my phone, I am willing to give it to them.โ
The allegations primarily revolve around claims made by several members of Parliament from the Opposition alliance. Opposition MPs such as TMCโs Mahua Moitra, Shiv Senaโs (UBT) Priyanka Chaturvedi, AAPโs Raghav Chadha, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and partyโs publicity department head Pawan Khera, as well as former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav have taken to various platforms to assert that Apple had flagged their iPhones as being susceptible to โstate-sponsored attacks.โ
During this wave of allegations, Samir Saran, the President of the Reliance-backed think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF), also reported that his iPhone had received a similar alert.
Rahul Gandhi, however, dismissed these claims of infringement as mere distractions created by the Modi government to divert attention from โreal issues.โ He said, โEarlier, I used to think number 1 is PM Modi, number 2 is Adani, and number 3 is Amit Shah, but this is wrong, number 1 is Adani, number 2 is PM Modi, and number 3 is Amit Shah. We have understood the politics of India, and now Adani ji cannot escape. Distraction politics is going on.โ
FLASH: As allegations of privacy breaches by the BJP-led Centre mount, Rahul Gandhi calls for a press conference.
โVery few people are fighting against this (government snooping) but we will not be deterred. We are not scared. The government can do however much phone tapping asโฆ pic.twitter.com/g8VvHOByMR
โ The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) October 31, 2023
Following Rahul Gandhiโs statements, Apple issued an official statement referring to these alerts as possible โfalse alarms.โ The statement read, โState-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete.
โItโs possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected. We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future.โ
SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav has become acerbic in his attacks with a tongue in cheek ripostes.
Joins chorus over Apple iPhone controversy.
From attacking chirkut netas to kaan na lagaye. pic.twitter.com/G3wOkuHDrI
โ Rohan Dua (@rohanduaT02) October 31, 2023
Surprised to find names of these 3 leaders in Apple security breach alert
1. @yadavakhilesh whoโs largely confined to UPโs regional politics and recently posthumously received Padma Vibhushan award for his father.
2. @raghav_chadha whoโs just got married.
3. @ShashiTharoorโฆ
โ Rohan Dua (@rohanduaT02) October 31, 2023
In response to the allegations, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, criticised the Opposition for failing to recognise the countryโs progress and engaging in what he termed destructive politics based on โfalse claims.โ He pointed out that these alerts had been to journalists, politicians, and similar groups in 150 countries.
Ashwini Vaishnaw has now initiated a probe into the matter through Indiaโs national nodal cybersecurity agency, CERT-In. This agency will also extend support to counterparts in the 150 countries mentioned in the alerts.
