Pegasus Spyware Scandal: Samujjal Bhattacharya Not Afraid Of Being Spied On

Student body AASU's Chief Advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya on Thursday stated that he is neither threatened nor afraid of being targeted by the Pegasus phone spying scandal.

He further said the struggle against CAA will continue.

On Wednesday, The Wire in its latest article had mentioned that two Assamese personalities figured in the list of around 50,000 numbers globally in the exposed Pegasus snooping controversy.

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All Assam Students' Union (AASU) Chief Advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya and ULFA (pro-talk faction) General Secretary Anup Chetia's numbers are the prominent personalities.

Talking to news agency PTI, Bhattacharya stated that he was shocked to see Indian citizens under surveillance, calling the act "anti-national".

"In this situation, if it is thought that we will be scared with the taping of our phones, it is wrong. We will not be afraid. If it is thought that we will not continue with our non-violent struggle to protect the interests of the indigenous people of the Northeast, that will not happen.  Our zeal to fight for our rights will continue, nobody can stop us. We are working for the protection of the interests of the indigenous people of the Northeast. Our high command is the people of the region. We are working under the guardianship of the people," Bhattacharya was quoted as saying in the PTI report published today.

"Assam Agitation took place because of this and the Assam Accord was signed. But it has not been implemented and the situation became more grave. Northeast was becoming a dumping ground with the imposition of Citizenship (Amendment) Act," he added.

"The CAA is a violation of the Assam Accord and it is anti-Constitution, communal, anti-indigenous and anti-Northeast", Bhattacharya said to the news agency.

Bhattacharya also asserted that everything is transparent between his colleagues and him and there is nothing to hide as the same things are shared between the people and media.

Speaking to the agency on the Pegasus controversy, Bhattacharya said, "Israel is a foreign nation. A foreign nation taking permission of the Indian government and spying on Indian citizens is just the murder of democracy. It is a dangerous and fascist attack on privacy, against the Constitution and an anti-India act".

The AASU leader also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah "to tell the truth to the people of the nation whether the surveillance has the government's sanction or it is being done by a foreign nation without its knowledge".

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