RTI activists meet Sonia, Rahul over whistle blowers Act

Protesting against proposed amendments in Whistle Blowers Protection Act-2011, an RTI activist from Madhya Pradesh, who exposed the Vyapam scam, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi over the issue.

"We met Congress president and vice president in New Delhi two days back to apprise them about amendments proposed in the Whistle Blowers Protection Act-2011 and drew their attention towards the attempts being made to weaken it," RTI activist Anand Rai told PTI today.

"While Soniaji discussed the issue with us for nearly 15-20 minutes, Rahul Gandhi heard us patiently for nearly 40-45 minutes," Rai said.

Besides Rai, RTI activist Ajay Dube, self-styled cyber expert Prashant Pandey and Gwalior-based activist Ashish Chaturvedi, who exposed the Vyapam and other scams in the state, were present on the occasion.

"The Congress president and vice president also discussed the ongoing CBI probe into the Vyapam scam and asked whether we are satisfied with it or not," Rai said.

Congress general secretaries Digvijay Singh and Mohan Prakash accompanied the RTI activists during the meeting with the top party leadership, he said.

Because of delay in the arrival of train, Chaturvedi was unable to meet Rahul, but was present in the meeting with the Congress president.

Notably, the amendment in the Act is being done with a view to incorporate necessary provisions aimed at strengthening safeguards against disclosures which may prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of the country, security of the state, etc. The amendments would address concerns relating to national security.

MP Professional Examination Board, popularly known by its Hindi acronym 'Vyapam' or Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal, conducts admission tests for engineering and medical colleges and also for recruitment in various government jobs in which alleged scam took place.

The Vyapam scam is a massive admission and recruitment racket that witnessed dozens of mysterious deaths of accused, witnesses and others ever since probe into the alleged scandal began.

Several politicians, a host of officials and scores of aspirants have been arrested in the case.