MUMBAI: Admiral ( Retired ) Vishnu Bhagwat  has said that a foreign surveillance company at the behest of  IB ,  was tapping 70 crore telephones and 12 crore E- mails of Indians. .Bhagwat was addressing a gathering of mediapersons at Mumbai Press Club on the occasion of the book  release function  of  Inspector General of Police ( Retd ) S M Mushrif’s second book entitled : 26/11 Probe Why Judiciary Also Failed? (with DVD) published by Pharos Media Publications.

Bhagwat alo added that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had collaborated with US intelligence agencies in tapping phones and E-mails. ” The IB is trying to become more powerful than all the democratic institutions of the country and should be made accountable to the parliament. It is now trying to interfere in the economic privacy of the countrymen by introducing Citizenship card. No parliamentarian in the country has the gumption to speak against its unconstitutional status and excesses it is committing in the name of national security, ” he added.

Our view: Admiral ( Retd ) Bhagwat’s statement is warning to the Indians that the country  is becoming a surveillance cum police state due to lack of accountability of the intelligence agencies. With a foreign company owning and possessing most of the critical Indian data, what is the guarantee of the privacy of the citizens. The mainstream media which is working like a stenographer which has abdicated its  role of responsible resporting should sit up , take notice and also take a critical view of what is happening around them lest they themselves become a victim of this behemoth of surveillance which in future might endanger media freedom and civil rights.