New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed people in his office, several party and opposition leaders have been sent a warning by Apple of “state-sponsored attackers” targeting their phone and alleged that snooping and probe agencies are deployed to distract public attention as soon as the Adani issue is raised.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, he also displayed a copy of the e-mail warning received by several opposition leaders from Apple.
He said opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Mahua Moitra, Raghav Chadha among others and party leaders such as K C Venugopal, T S Singhdeo, Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate have received the Apple warning.
Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also received a similar message.
At the presser, Gandhi accused the government of indulging in “distraction politics” on the Adani issue, which the opposition has accused of creating monopolies in various sectors in the country.
“We are not scared. You can do as much phone tapping as you want, I don’t care. If you want to take my phone, I will give it to you…,” Gandhi said.
While iPhone-maker Apple Inc said it does not attribute threat notifications, such as the ones received by some MPs belonging to Opposition parties, to any specific state-sponsored attackers and that it cannot provide information on what causes such warnings, the BJP rejected the allegations against the government as “baseless and false” and said it was for Apple to clarify.
The government has ordered an investigation into the matter.
In a post on X, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government takes its role of protecting the privacy and security of all citizens very seriously and “will investigate to get to the bottom of these notifications”.
Party leader and former Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that instead of levelling allegations against the government, opposition leaders should take up the matter with Apple and file FIRs.
Former Congress chief Gandhi claimed that the entire wealth of people, be it Dalits, tribals, backwards and the poor, is being taken away and given into the hands of one or two people who are creating monopolies in the country. He alleged that these monopolies are leading to wealth inequalities and growing unemployment.
Gandhi asserted that these inequalities will not go unless a caste census is done and the people are given their rights according to their population after conducting this X-ray.
PTI