Modi govt corroding RTI Act and hollowing out democracy, says Congress

'The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, gutted the RTI's public interest clause, weaponising privacy to shield corruption and stonewall scrutiny,' Mallikarjun Kharge alleged

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday accused the Modi government of "systematically corroding" the Right to Information (RTI) Act and "hollowing out" democracy and citizens' rights.

In a post on X, Kharge said that 20 years ago, the Congress-led UPA Government, under the leadership of the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, ushered in a new era of transparency and accountability by implementing the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005.

"In the last 11 years, the Modi Government has systematically corroded the RTI Act, thereby hollowing out Democracy and citizens' rights," he said in his post.

The Congress chief claimed that in 2019, the Modi government "hacked away" at the RTI Act, seizing control over Information Commissioners' tenure and pay, "converting independent watchdogs into servile functionaries."  "The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, gutted the RTI's public interest clause, weaponising privacy to shield corruption and stonewall scrutiny," he alleged.

"The Central Information Commission has been functioning without a Chief Information Commissioner the seventh time in 11 years this key post has been left vacant. It currently has 8 vacancies, unfilled for over 15 months, paralysing the appeals process and denying justice to thousands," he further stated.

Kharge claimed that a chilling "no data available" doctrine now prevails, where the government withholds information on issues such as deaths during COVID, NSSO 2017-18, ASUSE 20162020, PM CARES, and others, obscuring facts to evade accountability.

"Since 2014, over 100 RTI activists have been murdered, unleashing a climate of terror that punishes truth-seekers and extinguishes dissent," he further alleged.