Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Tuesday, 21 December, said that the government has hacked her children's social media accounts and is keeping a close watch on their conversations.
Vadra made the statement in response to a question on illegal phone surveillance on political opponents ahead of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) elections. She said, "They are even hacking my children's Instagram accounts, let alone phone tapping. Do they not have any other work?"
Vadra, who is Congress's UP unit in-charge, also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cash outreach scheme to women ahead of the UP elections.
She said, "What did I say to the women of UP? To use their power. Now even PM Modi has given in. Why didn't he announce this in the last five years? Why now, before elections? Women have woken up with our 'ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon' (I am a girl, I can fight) slogan."
However, Vadra is not the first politician to accuse the Yogi Adityanath government of tapping phone calls. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had said in a press conference that the phones of Opposition leaders are under surveillance, and their conversations are being heard.
Yadav had alleged, "All our phones are being tapped and our conversations being recorded. All the phones in the party office are being listened to; the CM himself is listening to some of the recordings in the evening. If you contact us, then know that your call is being listened to by them."
In response to Yadav's allegations, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had said, "Probably, Akhilesh did something similar when he was in power. So now, he is accusing others."
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