RTI Bill set to face rough weather in Rajya Sabha

Sources said Congress’s Rajya Sabha floor leaders will meet the party’s Lok Sabha MPs on Wednesday to evolve a common strategy. The opposition parties will also try to evolve an “effective strategy” for remainder of the session for both Houses, a senior Congress leader told The Indian Express. On Tuesday, opposition leaders were also furious with the government after its demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi come to the House and clarify his position on US President Donald Trump’s remarks on mediation in Kashmir was not accepted.

Explained | What has changed in RTI Act? Why are Opposition parties protesting?

“The government kept on stonewalling. Finally, we were forced to walk out,” a Congress leader said. “This can snowball into something bigger for both Houses.. Government is fuelling a larger confrontation and the Opposition has accepted the challenge.”

As for passage of Bills and extension of the session, he said, “Never have laws been enacted with this speed without scrutiny. This will be challenged.”

READ | Lok Sabha passes RTI (Amendment) Bill; will make panel ‘toothless tiger’, says Opposition

And the first confrontation could be over the Right To Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday amid protests by the Opposition.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the Central government is “hell-bent” on subverting the RTI Act, which now stands on the “brink of extinction”.

READ | Sonia Gandhi: Centre sees RTI Act as nuisance, now stands on brink of extinction

“It is clear that the present Central government sees the RTI Act as a nuisance and wants to destroy the status and independence of the Central Information Commission, which was put on par with the Central Election Commission and Central Vigilance Commission,” she stated.

The Congress, sources said, would demand that the Bill be referred to a select committee.

READ | Activists slam Centre’s move on RTI (Amendment) Bill 2019, say will make law another ‘toothless tiger’

“It is a matter of utmost concern that the Central government is hell-bent on completely subverting the historic Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. This law, prepared after widespread consultations and passed unanimously by Parliament, now stands on the brink of extinction,” she said in a statement.

Sonia said more than 60 lakh people have used RTI and helped usher in a new culture of transparency at all levels. “The foundations of our democracy have been strengthened. The weaker sections of the society have benefited greatly by use of RTI by activists and others,” she said.