Uproar in India over spying on BJP

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) There was uproar in India Tuesday over reports that the US allegedly allowed its National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on the BJP, with both ruling and opposition party leaders urging the government to take up the issue with Washington.

"Edward Snowden's revelation on spying on BJP needs to be authenticated. If true, MEA (ministry of external affairs) must respond to this appropriately," Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

"It is a matter of deep concern," he added.

The opposition Congress also said that the government must take up the issue with the US.

"It is incumbent upon the Indian government to take it up with their American counterparts. If at all the report is correct, and if so, what were the reasons why this alleged activity was undertaken," said Congress leader Manish Tewari.

"Some other entities that were there in the list... there was a particular angularity attached to all of them," he said.

According to a report in The Washington Post, the US allegedly allowed the NSA to spy on six non-US political parties, including the BJP according documents leaked by whistleblower Snowden.

The other five political parties that the NSA had authority to spy upon were Amal of Lebanon, with links to Hezbollah; the Bolivarian Continental Coordinator of Venezuela, with links to the FARC; the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood; the Egyptian National Salvation Front; and the Pakistan People's Party.