Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the central government of “treason” for allegedly buying the Pegasus snooping software from Israel allegedly to spy on political opponents and critics.

“Modi government bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions, politicians and public. Government functionaries, opposition leaders, armed forces, judiciary, all were targeted by these phone tappings. This is treason,” Gandhi said in a tweet.

“Modi government has committed treason,” he said.

Modi Govt bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions, politicians and public. Govt functionaries, opposition leaders, armed forces, judiciary all were targeted by these phone tappings. This is treason.

Modi Govt has committed treason.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 29, 2022

Gandhi quoted a New York Times report which said the Indian government bought Pegasus snooping software in 2017 from Israel as a part of a $2 billion weapon deal.

The report said that “Pegasus and a missile system” were the “centrepieces” of a broader defence package.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also called it treason and said: “The Modi government purchased the illegal and unconstitutional Peagasus spyware.

“Duped the Parliament, misled the Supreme Court, used public treasury to spy on its own people, hijacked the democracy in the run up to 2019 elections and committed treason.”

He said the spyware Pegasus not only breaches the WhatsApp but also the phone, is able to turn over the cellphone camera and microphone to capture all activities in the vicinity of the phone, besides hacking all the security features of the phone, including listening to, and sending passwords, contact lists, calendar events, text messages, and live voice calls. He said it also can plant fake material into the cellphone to falsely incriminate people.