'RTI Now Stands For Readiness To Intimidate': Congress Attacks Modi Govt For 'Undermining' Pro-Transparency Law

New Delhi: As the implementation of the Right to Information(RTI) Act completed 20 years on Sunday, the Congress launched an offensive against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) government for allegedly undermining the pro-transparency law.

In an elaborate post on X, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge said that the RTI Act 2005 implemented under the Manmohan Singh led UPA government “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 citizen’s rights,” Kharge said.

Referring to the 2019 amendments in the RTI Act in 2019, Kharge alleged that the Modi government “hacked away at the RTI Act, seizing control over Information Commissioners’ tenure and pay, converting independent watchdogs into servile functionaries”.

The Congress President further said that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 “gutted the RTI’s public interest clause, weaponising privacy to shield corruption and stonewall scrutiny”. 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, added Kharge. He said the panel currently has 8 vacancies, unfilled for over 15 months, paralysing the appeals process and denying justice to thousands.

Activists shout slogans during a protest against the amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the Lok Sabha of the Indian parliament, in New Delhi on July 25, 2019. (File/AFP)

“A chilling “no data available” doctrine now prevails, the govt brazenly withholds information on deaths during COVID, NSSO 2017-18, ASUSE 2016–2020, PM CARES and et al, erasing facts to escape accountability. Since 2014, over 100 RTI activists have been murdered, unleashing a climate of terror that punishes truth-seekers and extinguishes dissent”.

Congress General Secretary (Communications), Jairam Ramesh addressing a presser here said that the RTI Act implementation marked the beginning of a series of transformative rights-based laws enacted between 2005 and 2013—including laws covering rural employment, tribal rights, education, food security, and land acquisition.

Ramesh said the RTI Act was intended to empower citizens and foster a culture of transparency at every level of governance alleging that since May 2014 after PM Modi assumed office, there had been a “systematic and consistent effort to undermine it”.

He said that he had opposed the 2019 amendments in the Rajya Sabha on July 25, 2019, and later challenged them in the Supreme Court. “Unfortunately, this petition remains pending even after six years,” he said.

He further alleged that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act was “forcibly passed by Parliament and implemented in August 2023”. “On March 23, 2025, I informed the concerned minister that this new law would render the RTI Act even more irrelevant,” he said.

Pointing to the lack of staff at the Central Information Commission (CIC), the Congress leader said that the panel operates with only two commissioners as on date. “Nine positions, including that of its chief, are vacant. For the Modi government, RTI now stands for "Readiness to Intimidate”.

Read More:

1. Karnataka HC Reprimands RTI Activist Who Filed 9,646 Applications, Orders Recovery Of Rs 9.6 lakh From Him
2. CIC Autonomy Ensures Transparency & Accountability, Which Are Cornerstones of RTI, Says SC