Why didn't Modi govt put 'nation first' and deploy Pegasus to strike at terrorism, crime & rampant corruption?

The other day, re-watching Operation Finale, a movie based on the dramatic capture in 1960 of Adolf Eichmann – tasked by the Third Reich with managing the logistics of the so-called ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Question’, which led to the systematic killing of millions of Jews in Nazi concentration camps – by agents of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad and Shin Bet from Argentina’s Buenos Aires where he was living under an assumed identity, one was reminded once again of the horrific events that transpired in the wake of the dark tyranny and fascism unleashed upon the world by Adolf Hitler.

The film depicts the raw emotions of the members of the Israeli team deputed to capture Eichmann and transport him to Israel during the operation, with several of them battling a searing urge to outrightly kill him to extract revenge for the murder of close family members in the Holocaust, whose 77th anniversary was commemorated on January 27, marked every year as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which went largely unnoticed in India as usual. He was later hanged after being found guilty of war crimes.

Modern day Israel, of course, came into existence deriving strength, hope and courage from the trials and tribulations of the kin of millions of such victims of the Holocaust. And it was no easy task. Less than 24 hours after David Ben-Gurion, who went on to be the country’s first PM, proclaimed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, following the termination of the British Mandate, the new-born nation was invaded by the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Without going into further historical aspects, it would suffice to point out that Israel’s very existence depended on being militarily powerful in every which way over the years, and it went on to achieve the status of being one of the world’s top arms exporters, which helped it gain revenue, and, more importantly, leverage with other nations. The country also provided a nurturing environment for private firms to produce some of the world’s most potent cyberweapons, among them the Pegasus suite of military grade spyware.

A New York Times report published on January 28 delved into the circumstances leading to the establishment of the Israel's NSO group which developed Pegasus and detailed how some authoritarian regimes around the nation which ‘subscribed’ to it went on to misuse it by targeting rights activists and dissenters rather than deploying it for national security reasons as it was intended to.

The NYT report devoted merely one paragraph in the context of India, contending that a military deal worth $2 billion was inked with Israel when PM Narendra Modi paid an official visit to the country in 2017, ‘with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces’. However, it dovetailed with a tranche of media reports released last year which claimed that the Modi govt had used the spyware to snoop on dozens of unsuspecting citizens which included prominent journalists, opposition leaders and civil rights activists among others.

This kind of extensive snooping operation allegedly helped BJP retain power in the 2019 general elections.

Now, the government of a sovereign State is within its rights to acquire weapons from another State in a so-called inter-government deal, as that for the purchase of Rafale fighter jets, another deal embroiled in controversy since day one. However, the Modi govt flaunted the induction of the jets in the Indian Air Force as something the country ought to be proud of.

Why, then, was the acquisition of the Pegasus cyber-weapon carried out surreptitiously? How was such a huge expenditure made without parliamentary oversight?

The answers are rather obvious: funds expended by agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau and Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) are not subject to scrutiny, and the government never did intend to use the spyware for envisioned and legitimate purposes such as securing national interests or to crack down on crime etc.

The Solicitor General’s argument before the Supreme Court, while it was hearing a plea for a probe into the matter, that anti-national elements may have taken evasive steps upon learning of the existence of the spyware in the country, is fallacious. One because such awareness would act as a deterrent by itself, and two, because there apparently is no way to keep Pegasus from extracting information from a mobile handset once targeted by it.

Indeed, assuming that the Modi govt did acquire Pegasus, as would very much seem to be the case at this juncture, it lost an opportunity to deploy such sophisticated technology to take down actual enemies of the State such as terrorist cells, Naxalites, drug lords, extortionists and all other kinds of big ticket criminals.

It could also have been used to strike fear in the hearts of those indulging in corruption, whether it was politicians, bureaucrats, members of the judiciary or armed forces, besides tax evaders in the business fraternity. The cost of using the spyware to snoop on a particular device is reportedly steep, but an example could have been made by taking down a few among such black sheep. It could then have acted as a deterrent.

The government would, of course, need to ensure that any such interception of electronic communication complies with relevant rules such as section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and section 69 of the IT Act, 2000.

It is a well-known fact that corruption continues to erode our system from within like termite, as catalogued by credible global agencies like Transparency International, whose latest Corruption Perceptions Index pegged India at a lowly 85^th rank.

The Modi govt likes to boast of how its encouragement of digital technology is driving the country forward. It has put in place the ‘Digital India’ campaign and sundry other schemes bearing fancy names, the latest instance being controversial plans to have a successor to the Aadhaar number in the form of a ‘Federal Digital Identity’.

It also tried to showcase technological advancements by deploying no less than 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), colloquially called drones, emitting lights while undergoing delicate maneuvers, to add a new element to the traditional Beating Retreat ceremony held on January 29.

However, the ground reality is that no amount of technology will take forward a nation which is infested with omni-present corruption at just about all levels of governance and whose policies are framed to serve misplaced priorities and a certain class of citizens.

Indeed, graft can be dealt with by using modern technology, which provides the wherewithal to arm even the common man to accurately capture instances of money being demanded /accepted by unscrupulous officials and transmitting the same to concerned authorities for appropriate action.

Similarly, vigilance agencies can trap such officials along with the necessary evidence using modern devices. But all this calls for political will.

A tiny country such as Israel became a formidable force to reckon with globally because it was served by visionary leaders and a hard-working populace which literally transformed deserts and marshlands into high-yield food bowls and technology hubs even while facing an existential crisis.

This year, Transparency International's corruption index ranked it at 36, in the vicinity of developed European nations. But its people compared it to the 28^th rank it had five years ago, and this year's score is apparently its worst ever on this index.

It perhaps did not help that charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust were brought in 2019 against the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under whose watch India had reportedly signed the deal to acquire Pegasus among other things.

Notably, though Netanyahu denied the allegations, he went on to resign from various ministries held by him in compliance with Israel’s laws which stipulate that any minister facing criminal charges must quit. The development followed a petition filed in the country’s Supreme Court by an NGO called Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG).

In contrast, ministers in India continue to hold on to their positions even when charged with heinous crimes such as rape and murder, and petitions by NGOs and well-intentioned individuals pressing for adjudication of even such important issues as the constitutionality of the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir languish in courts unheard for years if not decades.

The country can lay claim to the epithet of ‘New India’ only if effective and visible measures are taken to achieve a high level of public probity. The incumbent government’s failure to disclose the acquisition of foreign-made weaponry and cyber-weaponry systems for a mammoth sum of money in 2017 and continued stubborn denial in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary does not, however, portend well towards that end.

(The writer works as Senior Editor with National Herald. Views are personal)