We are Living In George Orwell's 1984; Pegasus Scandal Is a Proof
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength
1984 is a novel by George Orwell. This book was published in 1949. This book shows the life of a political party member named Winston Smith. He is frustrated with the party's universal eyes and terrifying Big Brother.
This 'Big Brother' is shown to have control over everyone's life.
The party controls overall what people say, do and read. If anyone disobeys, they are sent to the terrifying room 101 to punish them. In the book, a new language, 'Newspeak,' reduces political revolt.
The lead character forms a fine revolt against the party. He keeps a diary of his thoughts.
His lover is also shown in the brighter picture.
Julia, his lover, and he began to fight for justice and freedom together. The most frightening concept of the book is that it is quite possible to have complete control of an entire nation.
This book is a warning to all.
This book is a perfect example of hooks of mass media control, absolutism, dictatorship, and how a dictator can alter and control people's thoughts, history, and lives in such a manner that there is no escaping from it.
The Pegasus Scandal
What is Pegasus Scandal?
What connection does this Scandal have with the book 1984?
Is there any privacy left in a state of surveillance?
Is it possible to control democracy?
What is Pegasus if not Bentham's Panoptic Tower?
The fundamental right generates the inductive environment to disagreement and expresses pluralistic thoughts.
If a democracy cannot guarantee privacy to its citizens, perhaps, it is not a free democracy.
The Pegasus spyware scandal has revived the memories of the scary revelations made by Edward Snowden surrounding mass surveillance of US citizens by the government.
An international collaboration of several top media organizations had revealed that at least 300 Indian citizens had become crucial prey of the Israeli spyware, Pegasus.
Out of them, ten had given positive reports in forensic tests conducted by Amnesty International.
Here's how The Scandal Surfaced In India:
- On 18th July 2021, a group of collaborators' investigative project disclosed that NSO Group's Pegasus spyware targeted over 300 mobile phone numbers in India that included high-profile names. Two of them were ministers in Prime Minister Naredra Modi's government. Three more numbers belonged to opposition leaders. The numbers belonged to political leaders, one constitutional officer, several correspondents and businesspeople, and some dissidents from all over the country.
- The Centre denied all the allegations of surveillance using Pegasus Spyware. The story surfaced by the Union government was named "shocking," and they even named it an attempt to tarnish Indian democracy. Ashwini Vaishnav, minister for I&E Technology claimed the reports cannot be a mere coincidence.
- The NSO Group, in its defense, declared that the allegations of spying were false and deceptive. "The report by Forbidden Stories is full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories that raise serious doubts about the reliability and interests of the sources.," claimed the NSO Group in a press release.
- During the monsoon session of Parliament, the Congress Party demanded an investigation by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the Pegasus controversy. A petition was soon filed in the Supreme Court by SIT(Special Investigation Team), seeking a court-monitored inquiry into the Scandal.
- When the global human rights group issued a statement about inaccurate media stories, the BJP; (Modi’s party) also came forward and claimed that Amnesty International had said that the list of phone numbers suspected was not directly linked with the NSO Group. Amnesty International said that it "categorically stands with" the conclusions of the investigation.
- Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi charged Narendra Modi with "disloyalty." He demanded a judicial investigation of the spyware scandal and called for the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. A Rajya Sabha member also had approached the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored probe into the Pegasus controversy. The plea demanded the court to direct the Centre to conduct a "prompt investigation through SIT" into the allegations as revealed by The Wire news website.
- Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal's Chief Minister, also had announced a commission of inquiry into the alleged surveillance of phones. Over 500 individuals and groups wrote to Chief Justice of India N V Ramana pleading immediate intervention of the Supreme Court. They also pursued a suspension on the sales and other uses of Pegasus in India.
- The Supreme Court designated a committee to conduct a "thorough inquiry" into allegations of use of the software.
Perils of Surveillance
The surveillance was on the four pillars of Indian democracy:
- Executive
- Judiciary
- Legislative
- Media
If there is even an iota of truth in the allegations, then we are on the list of totalitarian governments.
The fact that "I have nothing to hide" actually hides everything. This statement in itself is hollow.
The existing happenings in India cue an increasing tendency towards a surveillance State of a highly restrictive nature in the dearth of adequate checks and credits.
Being a righteous citizen, I pity the situation of the country. Students are refrained from voicing their opinions as the government now has put mute to the voices that are raised against them. Privacy and freedom of speech are in serious danger and are in the claws of oversight that are tightening their grip.
It wouldn't be wrong of me to say that the current scenario depicts that somehow we are living in George Orwell's 1984. It somehow feels like living in George Orwell's 1984.
I wish we didn't!