Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday accused the Central government of "systemically weakening" the RTI Act and failure to implement a UPA-era law that sought to protect truth-seekers and the activists from attacks.
Kharge criticised the government for delivering identical fatal blows to the rural job scheme and the transparency law, seeking a "re-examination" of the Right to Information Act as suggested by the latest Economic Survey.
"After killing MGNREGA, is it RTI's turn to get murdered?" asked the Congress President in a cryptic social media post, pointing out that over 26,000 cases were pending under the Right to Information Act as of 2025.
Highlighting the government's alleged disinterest in protecting the lives of RTI activists, he said, "Since 2014, over 100 RTI activists have been murdered, unleashing a climate of terror that punishes truth-seekers and extinguishes dissent. The Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014 passed by the Congress-UPA has not been implemented by the BJP, till date."
Kharge also assailed the vacancies in the transparency commission. "Until last month (December 2025), the Central Information Commission had been functioning without a Chief Information Commissioner — the seventh time in 11 years this key post was deliberately kept vacant," he wrote in a message on X.
Basing his allegations on the Economic Survey's observations related to the RTI Act, the Congress President said, "It also suggests a possible 'Ministerial veto' to withhold information and wants to explore the possibility of shielding public service records, transfers and staff reports of bureaucrats from public scrutiny."
The Congress president alleged that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, gutted the RTI's public interest clause, weaponising privacy to shield corruption and stonewall scrutiny.
He said in 2019, the government 'hacked' away at the RTI Act, seizing control over Information Commissioners' tenure and pay, converting independent watchdogs into submissive functionaries.
(With inputs from IANS)
