On Sunday, the Congress party launched a strong accusation against the Narendra Modi government, stating that the Right to Information (RTI) Act has been deliberately weakened. The party claims this weakening occurred because the law empowered citizens to verify the Prime Minister’s public statements and claims.
Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the RTI Act’s inception, the Congress declared that for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), RTI now stands for “Right to Intimidate.”
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge took to social media platform X to highlight what he called a prevailing “no data available” mindset. He asserted that the government “brazenly” withholds information to sidestep accountability. Kharge also raised serious concerns, stating, “Since 2014, over 100 RTI activists have been tragically murdered, fostering a climate of fear that stifles truth-seekers and suppresses dissent.”
During a subsequent press conference, Jairam Ramesh, the party’s general secretary for communications, reiterated Kharge’s sentiment. He emphasized that the RTI, a pivotal transparency law enacted on October 12, 2005, by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, is now perceived by the BJP as merely a “Right to Intimidate.”
Ramesh outlined five primary reasons for what he believes is the systematic undermining of the RTI. He cited the Chief Information Commissioner’s directive for the disclosure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s MA degree in ‘Entire Political Science’ as a significant initial incident.
Another instance, according to Ramesh, was when RTI responses contradicted the Prime Minister’s assertion of “crores of fake ration cards” existing nationwide.
Furthermore, Ramesh pointed out that RTI applications had debunked the government’s claims that demonetization successfully curbed black money and counterfeit currency. He revealed that “just four hours prior to the demonetization announcement made by Prime Minister Modi, the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India had concluded that the demonetization would not help in curbing black money or fake currency in any way.”
RTI disclosures, he added, have repeatedly caused “multiple embarrassments” for the government. These included revelations that the Reserve Bank of India had already submitted a list of the top 20 wilful loan defaulters to the Prime Minister’s Office. Ramesh also noted that “it was revealed through the RTI that no black money had come back from abroad as had been promised by Prime Minister Modi ahead of the 2014 General Elections.”
The Congress leader stated that the first significant weakening of the law occurred with the July 2019 amendment. This amendment removed crucial provisions originally included based on recommendations from a Parliamentary Standing Committee, which had former President Ram Nath Kovind (then a Rajya Sabha MP) among its members.
Ramesh expressed his regret that his challenge to the 2019 amendments to the RTI Act in the Supreme Court, filed on December 17, 2019, remains pending almost six years later.
Finally, Ramesh warned that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, if enacted in its current form, would deliver the “final death knell” to the RTI, as “Section 44(3) of the Act explicitly states that no personal information will be accessible under the RTI.”