Latching on to the controversy over the reported recovery of listening devices from Nitin Gadkari's residence, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday jokingly asked, "Are they saying we did it?" But if we look in the past, Union Minister Gadkari is not the only victim. Tapping phones in India is not that difficult at all for the people who are in a position to do so or have the expertise, and most telephone tapping is conducted for political or personal reasons.
Here's a look at some of the more famous instances of bugging and snooping in Indian politics:
1. Indira Gandhi snooping on Maneka Gandhi
Snooping on individuals is not new in Indian politics. Not only individuals, but even high constitutional authorities were subjected to illegal snooping in the past by no less than two Congress prime ministers. A book by former joint director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the late Maloy Krishna Dhar, Open Secrets, India’s Intelligence Unveiled, says former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first politician to have ordered illegal snooping. The intelligence agency spied on all her friends and tapped their conversations. The editorial board of the magazine that was run by Maneka was also closely monitored by the IB.
Also read: Former PM Manmohan Singh seeks probe even as Nitin Gadkari dismisses media reports of bugging as 'highly speculative'
2. Rajiv Gandhi snooping on Giani Zail Singh
According to the book written by Dhar mentioned above, Zail Singh’s conversations with Khalistan militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was recorded. Rajiv Gandhi had asked the IB to snoop on Zail Singh, who was then the President of India.
3. Arun Jaitley snooping row
The BJP had accused the UPA government in 2013 of "spying on the Opposition" and had demanded an apology. Terming it as a serious matter, the BJP demanded an answer from Sushilkumar Shinde, the then Union home minister, on who ordered this unauthorised surveillance. But making a statement in the Rajya Sabha, Shinde had said that BJP leader Arun Jaitley's phone was not tapped, only the call details of his phone was accessed. Delhi Police constable Arvind Dabas had illegally accessed the email id of ACP operations and misused it to send requests to telecom operators, seeking call detail records of many individuals, including several leaders.
4. Yashwant Sinha's allegations against P Chidambaram
In September 2012, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha alleged that P Chidambaram had ordered his phone tapped. Singh said that Chidamabaram snooped on him as he had raised the issue of the Aircel-Maxis deal. Sinha had accused Chidambaram of being involved in the Aircel-Maxis scam.
5. AK Antony's office bugged
In February 2012, an officer of the military intelligence found a monitoring device in the office of then Defence Minister AK Antony. A high level probe was initiated to look into the matter. It was the time when tensions between government and army were at their peak in the last decade. Questions were raised when the IB was asked to probe the matter. However, the Defence Ministry had denied that Defence Minister AK Antony's office was being bugged, saying an investigation into "inconsistencies" found during a routine sweep has turned up no proof of any bugging device.
Twitter reactions over the Nitin Gadkari snooping row
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