Parliament, today witnessed a very combatative Sonia Gandhi when speaking in the Lok Sabha she took on the Modi government for brutally weakening the Right to Information Act. The Congress President also slammed the government for failing to fill the post of the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) and alleged that it was trying to “shield” itself from scrutiny.
“Information delayed is information denied. This is simply not acceptable.” She said at the outset of her talk which was listened to with rapt attention, both by treasury and opposition benches.
“I bring to attention the deplorable lapse of the government in appointing a chief information commissioner,” Gandhi said, raising the issue in the Lok Sabha.
“This post has been lying vacant for the last eight months. The posts of the three information commissioners of the Central Information Commission have also been lying vacant,” she said.
She had moved an adjournment motion over the issue on in the morning, and speaking on it she said: “The UPA had ensured that the position of the CIC had never lied vacant.”
“The prime minister had made many promises to the people on transparency and good governance and continues to do so, but his actions do not match his words” Sonia Gandhi implied.
Who are they trying to shield by brutally weakening the RTI, she asked.
