Why afraid of RTI ?
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 06, 2013 -
It is good to see that the ruling of the Central Information Commission (CIC) on Monday for bringing political parties under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act has definitely generated a much awaited debate on an issue that has unfortunately been remained stalled time and again for the last many years.
Acting on an RTI application seeking details on the finances of political parties, a full bench of CIC comprising Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra and Information Commissioners M L Sharma and Annapurna Dixit, on Monday held that the six parties namely Congress, BJP, CPI-M, CPI, NCP and BSP to whom the RTI queries have been directed, fulfill the criteria of being ‘public authorities’ and, therefore, ought to be brought under the ambit of RTI Act as they are answerable to the public.
Accordingly, the Presidents, General Secretaries of these parties have been directed to designate CPIOs and Appellate Authorities at their headquarters in six weeks’ time.
Although RTI activists and other civil society members have hailed the ruling of the CIC as ‘a new benchmark’ in ushering in transparency in politics, political parties across the spectrum, with exception to BJP which sees no wrong in the CIC ruling, have raised strong objection to the move, maintaining that it would ‘destroy the entire political system’.
Congress party, under whose regime, RTI Act has been introduced to bring about greater transparency and accountability in the governance, has even denounced the CIC ruling as an ‘adventurist approach’ that would harm the democratic institutions.
Now, the question is; why the political parties are afraid of RTI Act?
When RTI Act is applicable to the government, why should the political parties, which form the government, be excluded from the purview of the same Act?
If there is rule of law in the country and everyone is treated equally in the eyes of law, then why the political parties and politicians should be placed above the law?
These are some of the questions that the political parties which are opposed to the verdict of CIC need to answer to justify their claims that RTI Act is not applicable to the political parties.
The fear psychosis that has been generated by the verdict of CIC among the political seems to have only revealed the obvious – political parties having more to hide than to expose.
It is hard to understand why any political party would oppose to the verdict, if it is not including in illegal money laundering or corrupt financial practices.
If the political parties are actually concerned about maintaining the sanctity of democratic institutions in the country, then they need to look beyond their party finances.
At a time when people have started losing their faith in Indian democracy with concepts like ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ reduced just to some high sounding slogans for the politicians to mouth at public platforms, the political parties should actually welcome and accept the verdict of CIC to win back the lost trust of the people.
Without the support of the people, what would be the importance of any political party? Let all the RTI-scared political parties ponder over this point before even thinking of challenging the ruling of CIC in some law courts.
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