Inquiry into Snoopgate justified, doing it to target Modi isn't

The Union Cabinet’s decision to create a Commission of Inquiry to look into allegations that the government of Gujarat had used the state’s police machinery to spy on a woman unfortunately may do little to curb the menace. The committee instituted by the Centre has been mandated to look into alleged incidents of illegal surveillance that were carried out by police and private agencies in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi. While the BJP has protested only the decision to probe the incidence of such probing in Gujarat, it hasn’t said anything about Himachal Pradesh where former Chief Minister PK Dhumal is accused of spying on Virbhadra Singh ahead of the state elections. In Delhi, the inquiry will reportedly look into the unauthorised monitoring of the call data records of BJP leader Arun Jaitley, reports the Economic Times . The decision to include the two other states was reportedly to avoid criticism that the inquiry was essentially instituted to harass the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.   [caption id=“attachment_1309679” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] According to an Indian Express report , the terms of reference for the commission are to check whether in all three cases the due process of law was followed before the snooping began, to identify the tools used to access data and determine who was supervising the operations. The commission will also look into whether telecom service providers complied with laws, and will make recommendations to the Central government over the changes that need to be made to prevent such incidents in future. While the BJP has been crying hoarse that the central government’s decision is a violation of the nation’s principles of federalism, a Hindu report points that in case the party does decide to go to court, it may not find the going very easy. The BJP’s argument hinges on the fact that the Gujarat government has already appointed its own inquiry commission to look into the allegations of illegal surveillance against former minister Amit Shah. The two member committee, that was instituted in November and consists of a former judge and bureaucrat, are expected to submit their report 90 days. The Hindu report points out how the Karnataka government had in 1976 challenged the formation of a commission of inquiry instituted by the Centre only to have its struck down by the Supreme Court. “In all democratic countries when allegations and rumours circulate causing crisis of confidence in the integrity of public life or about other matters of public importance, it is essential that public confidence should be restored and this can be done only by thoroughly investigating and probing the rumours and allegations. Such an inquiry might reveal either that the evil exists or that there is no force in the rumours. In either case confidence is restored,” the court had observed. The BJP’s outrage over the commission probing an incident that is directly linked to its Prime Ministerial candidate comes as no surprise. While it would have been wiser for the Congress-led central government to wait until the Gujarat inquiry commission’s report made its findings public before creating its own inquiry, the party perhaps didn’t want to leave anything to chance when it came to raking mud against its opponent’s PM candidate and his closest aide. While the Centre can’t be judged for its interest in curbing illegal surveillance carried out by police forces across the nation without any accountability, its reason for doing so will perhaps ensure that little, barring perhaps a few political points, are earned from this exercise.