On July 27, The Wire broke the news that Seeman, the founder-leader of the Naam Thamizhar Katchi (NTK), Dravida Kazhagam treasurer Kumaresan, Thriumurgan Gandhi, founder of the May 17 movement and K Ramakrishan, treasurer of the Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam may have been surveilled using the Israeli company—NSO made spyware, Pegasus.
The new set of names is only four amongst the 155 released by The Wire and its international media partners collaborating in The Pegasus Project that aims to reveal the full extent of surveillance by governments around the world. The ongoing revelations continue to raise alarm and apprehension globally and in India.
The four leaders from Tamil Nadu represent a partial cross section of political interests and ideologies. Thirumurugan Gandhi founded May 17 in Tamil Nadu—the date the Civil War in Sri Lanka ended with the killing of an estimated 40,000 – 70,000 Tamil civilians—in solidarity with the Eelam cause. Similarly, both K Ramakrishnan and Kumaresan have been strong Dravidianist voices and critics of the Union government and attempts to spread Hindutva. Seeman, a Tamil naionalist leader, considered a divisive figure by many, commands a large following. While he openly claims to support the Eelam struggle, he is also known for his opposition to some of the Dravidian ideologies.
Speaking to TNM, Seeman said, “It is unsurprising that they would put me under surveillance, but the method is surprising. As far I am concerned, I have nothing to hide. Whatever I speak privately, I speak outside too. Let them do what they want. If a government is so suspicious of its own people, maybe it’s they who are doing something dishonest and are afraid.”
He also referred to the enforcing of policies such as Aadhaar, the Citizenship Amendment Act and asked what good has come of it. “After all this, they are also recording what I’ve said, what Thirumurgan Gandhi has said.What did they find out? Can they release those call records to people in the country?”
It is necessary to keep in mind that, as The Wire has stated repeatedly, it isn’t possible to tell if the phones of any of these four leaders had definitely been hacked without a thorough forensic analysis of the instruments and for now are being considered potential targets only.