Pegasus bigger scandal than Watergate, says Mamata rooting for united Oppn

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has called for a united front, a joint platform of all opposition parties, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Banerjee asked leaders to organise a meeting in Delhi next week. “I will be in Delhi next week. I hope [NCP leader] Sharad Pawar can arrange for a meeting of the Opposition. We have to start our planning for 2024 with just two and a half years left for the Lok Sabha polls,” she said.

Pegasus spyware leaks have created a furore in the national political circles. “Pegasus is a bigger scandal than Watergate,” Banerjee claimed and urged the NCP chief and Congress leader P Chidambaram to come together.

“The BJP has bulldozed the democratic structure of the country and hit the main pillars of democracy – election, media and judiciary – through Pegasus. Forgetting self-interest, we must come together and save the country and people.”

“[Election strategist] Prashant Kishor’s phone has been tapped and I speak to him, so my conversation also gets recorded. My phone is also tapped. I cannot talk to anyone,” Mamata said while speaking at the Martyrs’ Day programme in Kolkata.

The CM also asked the Supreme Court to take cognisance of the snooping scandal, that targeted politicians, activists, journalists and even judges using the Pegasus spyware.

“The BJP wants to convert a democratic country into a surveillance state rather than a welfare state,” she said.

“I know my phone is being tapped. All opposition leaders know that our phones are being tapped. I can’t speak to NCP leader Sharad Pawarji or other opposition leaders or chief ministers because we are being snooped and spied on by the Centre. But snooping on us won’t save them in 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Banerjee told the rally. Slamming the BJP-led NDA government for its “monumental failure” in handling the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis, the TMC supremo termed the saffron party a “highly loaded virus party” which needs to be defeated at any cost.