A New York Times report, which claimed that India bought the Pegasus spyware from Israel in 2017 as part of a deal, has triggered a war of words. While the opposition accused the BJP of deceiving parliament, Union minister Gen V K Singh called the paper “Supari media”.
Last year, an international consortium of media organisations had reported on how the Pegasus spyware had been used to potentially target journalists, activists and politicians in India. However, in August, following widespread outrage, in response to questions raised in the Rajya Sabha, the government had said that the “ministry of defence has not had any transaction" with the Israel-based NSO Group.
