Scrappy independent journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh, based in Ramgarh, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, has little in common with French President Emmanuel Macron. But now they have been revealed to share at least one thing: both Singh and Macron may have been targets of surveillance via the Israeli spyware Pegasus.
For the past week, some 80 journalists from 17 news organizations across the world — including The Wire here in India — have been running stories based on a list of 50,000 cell phone numbers (around 300 in India) that are believed to have been selected as potential targets for surveillance by clients of Israeli technology firm NSO Group. Obtained initially by the France-based media non-profit Forbidden Stories and human-rights watchdog Amnesty International, and then shared with other media outlets, the numbers on the list are believed to have been mined by Pegasus users to monitor and collect information on the phones’ owners in at least 10 countries.
The owners or users of these numbers run the gamut — from heads of state like Macron and other political figures, to lawyers, as well as journalists like Singh, to activists and students. In India, the identities of at least 155 of the supposed targets for surveillance have been revealed so far by The Wire. Of this figure, some 52 percent are either journalists or activists, many of whom are based in the national capital, New Delhi, and either work with prominent organizations or are known figures in “Delhi circles.” What is more disturbing, however, is that even journalists and activists working in more remote areas have apparently been monitored as well.
Observers say that such surveillance, especially on the grassroots media, means that the Modi administration has reached a new and most dangerous level in its unofficial campaign to stifle dissenting voices. Indeed, while activists and journalists in the grassroots have long been objects of interest of local authorities, this may mark the first time that they have landed in the crosshairs of the central government.
Jaspal Singh Heran, editor in chief of the newspaper Rozana Pehredar in Ludhiana, a city in the northern state of Punjab, is among those who have been identified as targets of surveillance. He remarks, “I never thought the government would stoop to such a low. I always assumed to be under surveillance by the state police, but this is just another level.”
Rupesh Kumar Singh, for his part, says that he was not surprised to learn that he was marked as a potential snooping target. He says, “I have been reporting on mineral exploitation and displacement, which exposes the nexus between corporations and politics. Hence, I believe they are spying on me.”
“Most possibly it’s the Indian government using the Pegasus spyware for spying on dissenters,” he adds. “It’s a move that suggests that India’s democracy is derailed and fast slipping into a fascist regime.”
The press under pressure
For sure, it’s a move that will not be doing the country’s freedom of the press any good. Between 2016 and 2021, India had already slipped from rank 133 to 142 on the World Press Freedom Index that is compiled annually by the global non-profit Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In its latest report, RSF says, “Ever since the general elections in the spring of 2019, won overwhelmingly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, pressure has increased on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line.”
RSF has also identified Modi and 36 others as “predators of press freedom.” The entry on Modi notes his “insidious” strategy: “On the one hand, by visibly ingratiating himself with the owners of leading media outlets, their journalists know they risk dismissal if they criticise the government. On the other, prominent coverage of his extremely divisive and derogatory speeches, which often constitute disinformation, enables the media to achieve record audience levels. All that is left for Modi is to neutralize the media outlets and journalists that question his divisive methods.”
Many say that the Pegasus affair is part of that neutralization effort. As it is, the NSO Group on its website and in response to queries from various media outfits insists that its technology is for the use of national governments and state agencies only. It also says that its technology is aimed at fighting terrorism and crime.
Electronics and Information Technology (IT) Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw meanwhile has said cryptically that India has a well-established procedure of lawful interception of electronic communication that is carried out for the purpose of “national security.”
Appearing in Parliament recently, Vaishnaw did not categorically deny the national government’s role in the matter; instead he said that India has “established protocol when it comes to surveillance.”
Interestingly, Vaishnaw and another member of the Modi Cabinet, Prahlad Singh Patel, are also on the snooplist. Replying to questions from the opposition, though, Vaishnaw said in Parliament, “Any form of illegal surveillance is not possible with the checks and balances in our laws and our robust institutions.”
Home Minister Amit Shah, however, suggests that the Pegasus exposé is nothing but “a report by the disruptors for the obstructers.”
“Disrupters are global organizations which do not like India to progress,” he says in a post on his official website. “Obstructers are political players in India who do not want India to progress. People of India are very good at understanding this chronology and connection.”
Calls for “better” explanations
But the likes of Anushka Jain, Surveillance and Transparency counsel from Internet Freedom Foundation, are not satisfied with such statements from government officials. Says Jain: “The Indian government has maintained that ‘no unauthorized surveillance’ has taken place, and the NSO group says that its services are only available to ‘vetted governments,’ which clearly means that surveillance has taken place through phone hacks and the government is involved in spying on its citizens. This is highly problematic, plus it’s illegal according to the existing Indian laws.”
She also points out, “The names of the people who have appeared in the snoop list are not terrorists; they are journalists, students, activists, and leaders. The government must also tell under what basis were these people chosen for ‘authorized’ surveillance.”
“And if the Indian government isn’t involved in this [surveillance],” Jain continues, “and a foreign state is indulging in spying on Indian citizens, then we ought to know what actions the government is taking. In any case, the Indian government is responsible for ensuring the constitutional guarantee of freedom and privacy of its citizens.”
Out of the 300 cellphone numbers from India targeted for potential surveillance, many belonged to journalists and activists.
For Rupesh Kumar Singh, however, the Pegasus revelations only confirm what he has long suspected. “For the last few years,” he says, “I had always felt the signs of surveillance and phone tapping. I would hear a strange beeping sound and my location was known to unknown people.”
According to reports on the Pegasus scandal, three phone numbers connected to Singh appeared in the snooplist only a few months after he reported on an alleged fake encounter of tribal palanquin worker Motilal Baske with security forces in 2017. Critical questions were raised on Baske’s killing in his report, which led to locals staging a massive protest against the security agencies. Singh’s report also questioned the state’s claim that Baske was a Maoist (insurgent).
Singh ended up being arrested in June 2019 and booked for alleged possession of explosives; he spent six months in detention before he was granted bail. He maintains that the explosives supposedly found in his car were planted.
As for Rozana Pehredar’s Heran, he believes that he became a surveillance target because his paper “is highly critical of right wing and communal politics of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the (BJP), the party in power at the center.” Heran indicates that his paper’s stance will not change anytime soon, even though it now seems that the national government has trained its sights on him.
Among other things, Rozana Pehredar has been covering farmers’ protests that have been going on for more than six months now. Its reports have included discussions on the three laws passed under the Modi administration that supposedly would weaken farmers’ control over their land.
Heran and his staff also plan to get to the bottom of the Pegasus scandal. Says the Punjabi-language publication’s chief editor: “The reporters of Rozana Pehredar have written to the President of India to conduct a probe into the matter. If the President doesn’t take any action, then we would definitely move to the Supreme Court of India.”
The top press bodies in the country, including the Press Club of India and Mumbai Press Club have condemned the surveillance episode. An Upper House member from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), John Brittas, has moved to the Supreme Court demanding an inquiry. ●
Rohin Kumar is a roving reporter attempting to chronicle humanitarian crises. His areas of interest are environmental justice and human rights. His book on the Kashmir Conflict, Lal Chowk, is set to hit the stands soon.
