Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of weakening the Right to Information (RTI) Act by bringing the data protection law.
Kharge said while India has been on the top in misinformation and disinformation for the past few years, the Modi government is bent upon weakening the RTI Act, brought by the previous Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government, by bringing the data protection law.
“Whether it is information related to the public sector like list of ration cards, beneficiaries of MGNREGA, people involved in public welfare schemes, voters, or billionaire scamsters who fled the country after taking loans from government banks – it is important for the names of all these to be available in public domain. But now, the Modi government is weakening the RTI in the name of data protection, due to which such names will no longer be made public,” he said.
Stating that the right to privacy is a fundamental right and his party has fought for it, Kharge said when it comes to public welfare, the right to information is a necessity.
Referring to the previous Congress government’s experience, he wrote on X, “Right to privacy was also taken care of in Congress’ RTI, but this does not mean that the list of beneficiaries or the names of scammers should not be made public. The Congress party will not allow RTI to be weakened, we have raised our voice for it earlier also, and will continue to raise our voice.”
Kharge, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha further said, “We will continue to fight against this dictatorial government to protect the rights of the people.”