Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is in the US for a 10-day tour, has reiterated that his phones are being tapped, adding that if the "state decides they want to tap your phone, no one can stop it."
Gandhi was attending a session with Silicon Valley-based startup entrepreneurs in Sunnyvale when he made the claim. The event was a fireside chat with Plug and Play Tech Centre CEO Saeed Amidi and FixNix Startup founder Shaun Shankaran.
Among other topics, Rahul Gandhi touched upon the Pegasus spyware issue, telling the audience that he is not worried about his phone being tapped. Rahul then took his iPhone and quipped "Hello! Mr Modi."
"I presume my iPhone is being tapped. You need to establish rules with regard to the privacy of data information as a nation and also as an individual," he said.
"If a state decides that they want to tap your phone, no one can stop you. This is my sense," he said. "If the nation is interested in tapping the phone, then this is not a battle worth fighting. I think whatever I do and work, is available to the government," he claimed.
Gandhi had claimed earlier that the phones of several politicians, including himself, were under surveillance.
Stressing that there was a need to have appropriate regulations on data safety and security, Rahul called data the "new gold" while insisting the need for appropriate regulations on data safety and security.
"If you want to spread any technology in India, you have to have a system where power is relatively decentralised," he said in response to a question. He also shared his personal experience of drone technology and its regulation, which, according to him, "faced massive bureaucratic hurdles".
The session also covered various aspects of artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning and their implications on mankind in general and on issues like governance, social welfare measures and also disinformation and misinformation. Indian Overseas Congress chairperson Sam Pitroda and some other key aides attended the session with Rahul.
Rahul at Stanford
In another session, Rahul said he did not imagine his disqualification from Lok Sabha was possible when he joined politics, but asserted that it has given him a "huge opportunity" to serve the people. Rahul was answering questions from Indian students at the prestigious Stanford University Campus in California.
The Wayanad (Kerala) Member of Parliament was disqualified from Lok Sabha earlier this year after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
"I think the drama started really, about six months ago. We were struggling. The entire opposition is struggling in India. Huge financial dominance. Institutional capture. We're struggling to fight the democratic fight in our country," he said, adding that at this point in time, he decided to go for the Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
"I am very clear, our fight is ours fight," he said. "But there is a group of young students from India here. I want to have a relationship with them and want to talk to them. It's my right to do it," he said during his interaction with Indian students and academicians of Indian origin at the University here.
He also emphasised in his frequent foreign trips like this, he is not seeking support from anybody. "I don't understand why the prime minister doesn't come here and do it," Gandhi asked amidst applause from the audience who had packed the entire auditorium at Stanford.
The moderator said the Prime Minister is welcome to come to Stanford anytime and interact with the students and academicians.
Some of the students were denied entry as the auditorium was packed. Students started queuing up two hours before the event started. In the last one and a half years, several Indian ministers have interacted with Indian students.
'Misinformation campaign'
The Indian Overseas Congress, USA (IOCUSA) has rubbished rumours about Rahul's US trip, terming them "misinformation campaign" to tarnish the visit. "Gandhi's visit is getting so much public attention in the US and in India. People are eagerly waiting to hear about his progressive vision and interact with him. It must have enraged a group of people to engage in a misinformation campaign to tarnish the visit," IOCUSA said in a statement on Wednesday.
"It denounced the efforts to paint Gandhi's visit as being controlled by a certain minority group with an unholy alliance with external ties," the statement added.
The statement said the Indian Overseas Congress, USA, is an autonomous entity not subservient to any religious groups in the USA. "It is not the policy of the Congress party to divide the people based on their choice of religion. We welcome everyone, regardless of religion, caste, language, or region, to participate in the upcoming events," it said.