New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday rejected as “baseless and false” opposition leaders’ allegations against the government following Apple’s alert of “state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise” their iPhones, and said it is for the mobile company to explain the issue.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the opposition for targeting the government without taking up the matter with Apple and dared its leaders, who have received it, to file a criminal case (FIR).
Attacking opposition leaders, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya noted the company’s statement and said Rahul Gandhi made a “complete joke” of himself on the issue.
Gandhi earlier claimed people in his office, several party and opposition leaders, some of whom posted the message on X, have been sent a warning by Apple of “state-sponsored attackers” targeting their phones and alleged that snooping and probe agencies are deployed to distract public attention as soon as the Adani issue is raised.
Asked about the opposition leaders’ charge, Prasad shot back, “It is for Apple to clarify. They should file an FIR if they have any problems. Who is stopping them?”
He recalled the controversy over the alleged use of Pegasus malware to hack into the phones of certain people, including opposition leaders, and said Gandhi had refused to deposit his iPhone before a committee appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the matter.
Malviya noted that Apple issued a statement within minutes of Gandhi making a complete joke of himself.
“What is it that drives him to champion foreign agencies’ sponsored stories? Soros? Last time too he didn’t submit his phone for investigation. Why waste national time by making frivolous allegations,” he said.
“Life of an ‘issueless’ Opposition in India: wake up and outrage over something frivolous, roll in Rahul Gandhi and assorted voices in the ranks to wail, only to find that the issue is dead by noon,” he said.
After some of the most vocal critics of the government said they received warnings that attempts have been made by state-sponsored attackers to steal information from their iPhones, its manufacturer Apple Inc in a statement said it is possible that some threat notifications may be false alarms and some attacks may not be detected.
“Apple does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker,” the firm said and added that state-sponsored attackers are “very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time”.
After TMC MP Mahua Moitra launched yet another attack on the government and the Adani Group after she received the alert, her bete noire and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey hit back.
“Is the government of India left with no work now? This crocodile tears of the MP accused of mortgaging national security for some money forces me to laugh,” he said on X. A Lok Sabha committee is probing Dubey’s ‘cash-for-query’ allegations against Moitra.
He said the Delhi Police should immediately take her mobile phone and investigate, and she should also file a case for violation of privacy and not run away after making allegations like Rahul Gandhi.
Amid the row, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government had ordered a probe into the matter.
“In light of such information and widespread speculation, we have also asked Apple to join the investigation with real, accurate information on the alleged state-sponsored attacks,” he added.
