Listen to people's voice not Oppn's: Akhilesh Yadav takes dig at Centre over state-sponsored attack

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav has now responded to the I.N.D.I.A bloc's hacking alert claims in connection with the 'Apple warning message' and slammed the Central government. The former Uttar Pradesh CM took a jibe at the BJP-led Central government stating that instead of wasting their time spying on Opposition parties, those in power should prioritise listening to the voice of the people so that they can improve on several issues. 

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Akhilesh Yadav said, "It is being heard that those in power are now spying on the phones of the opposition. Instead of listening to the opposition, it would be better if those in power listen to the people's voice, then at least they will get some chance of improvement, so that they can do some positive work related to burning issues like inflation, corruption, unemployment, broken law, health system, crime against women, the fury of the youth, exploitation of the poor, Dalits, deprived, farmers, labourers; like caste census and social justice.

He further said, “Don't know why, but it is also being heard that his party members are more afraid of this spying. Let those in power do their work, don't listen!”

सुना है सत्ताधारी अब विपक्षियों के फ़ोन की जासूसी करवा रहे हैं। विपक्ष की बात सुनने से ज़्यादा अच्छा तो ये है कि सत्ताधारी ‘जनता की आवाज़’ सुन लें तो कम-से-कम उन्हें सुधार का कुछ मौका मिल जाए और फिर महंगाई, भ्रष्टाचार, बेरोज़गारी, ध्वस्त क़ानून व स्वास्थ्य व्यवस्था, महिला अपराध,…

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) October 31, 2023

What is ‘snoopgate’ alarm by Opposition? 

A massive controversy erupted on Tuesday after several leaders of the I.N.D.I. Alliance, an opposition bloc forged to dethrone the BJP from the Centre in the 2024 General Elections, claimed a ‘snooping attack’ by the Centre, ‘reminiscent’ of the Pegasus issue.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Shiv Sena's (UBT) Priyanka Chaturvedi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPIM leader Sitaram Yechury and AIMIM chief Owaisi, Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha, and Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Pawan Khera have alleged that they have received the alert message and some of them accused the Centre of trying to hack into the mobile phone of the Opposition leaders.

In response to the alleged snoopgate charges framed against the Centre by the opposition leaders and MPs, the phone and software manufacturing company said that ‘Apple does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker.’

“State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete. It’s possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected. We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future,” it added.

Notably, the threat notification has been sent to iPhone users whose accounts are in nearly 150 countries. Further, some people from the government side, including Samir Saran, also recieved the messages from Apple on their phones and emails, warning them about "state-sponsored attackers" may be targeting their iPhone.