BJP Calls Pegasus Story "Concocted, Fabricated, Evidence-Less"

On Pegasus snooping reports, BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi alleged that the "fake" list is like a collection of mobile numbers drawn from yellow pages and those have been used for "yellow journalism".

The BJP on Thursday claimed that the story on the alleged snooping through Israeli spyware Pegasus is "concocted, fabricated and evidence-less" and that the new reports based on it call for "defamation". Union minister and BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi cited reports to claim that Amnesty International, the human rights group associated with Pegasus Project, has denied the existence of a list of potential targets of the alleged snooping. Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, she alleged that the "fake" list is like a collection of mobile numbers drawn from yellow pages and those have been used for "yellow journalism". She was referring to news reports about the suspected snooping of people, including politicians and journalists, in India and several countries. Amnesty International, however, said in a statement that it "categorically stands" by the findings of the Pegasus Project and asserted that the data is irrefutably linked to potential targets of Israel-based NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.