The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the government of giving 'limited denials' on the telephone tapping allegations and warned that allowing lobbyists to influence policies like telecom spectrum would be 'hugely frightening' for Parliamentary democracy.
In a blistering attack on the government, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley asked whether 'public emergency' or 'public safety' was under threat to bug the telephones of four senior political leaders including Sharad Pawar, Prakash Karat and Nitish Kumar. It is only in the interest of 'public emergency' or 'public safety' that the government has been vested with powers to tap telephones.
"There is no absolute power with the government" under the Indian Telegraphic Act, Jaitley, a well-known lawyer, argued. Initiating a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the allegations of phone tapping, Jaitley said Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement declared that the government did not authorise the bugging, but it failed to say that the tapping did not take place.
Referring to the denial by the Central Board of Direct Taxes -- that it did not tap phones of influential businessmen and politicians -- the BJP leader said the CBDT denial did not specifically rule out tapping of the individual corporate lobbyist and PR person named in the media.
"Both the statements (denials) were economical in choice of words; they made limited denials and failed to deny the crux of the allegations," he said.
Parliament was rocked on Wednesday over reports that the tax authorities had tapped conversations of a well-known lobbyist running a clutch of PR agencies. These conversations conveyed an impression that 'structured lobbyists' were working even on decisions like allocations of Cabinet portfolios. He said if these reports about lobbyists influencing spectrum allocations are true, then 'it is hugely frightening'.
Jaitley said the mobile technology available with the National Technical Research Organisation, used by the intelligence agencies, 'dismantles' the Constitutional guarantee of privacy to an individual. Sticking to the BJP's demand for a Parliamentary probe into the allegations, he said in recent times, the investigative and intelligence arms of the government were 'repeatedly and grossly' misused.
He claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation did a 'white wash' of the cases related to the United Progressive Alliance and its allies, was vindictive towards the UPA's opponents and holds a Damocle's sword on those who are needed for its number games in Parliament.
Charging the government with not being frank and candid, Jaitley said, "The absence of denial is implicit admission".
He said the intelligence agencies failed to gather information about insurgency because they were "concentrating on political espionage".
Justifying the demand for some kind of a Parliamentary probe into the allegations of phone tapping, the BJP leader said Parliament is entitled to re-examine as to whether technology can dismantle the Constitutional provisions. The 'mismatch' between individual's privacy and technology needs to be addressed, he said.
Referring to reports linking lobbyists to the telecom spectrum allocation, Jaitley said a particular firm was influencing former bureaucrats, politicians, senior editors and journalists to meet their corporate objectives. He said even in the United States, the role of lobbyists is under the scanner.
