India Today: New Delhi: Friday, August 02, 2013.
Just when one
thought that the Right to Information Act provisions will finally be put to
good use to bell political parties, the Cabinet moved with extraordinary speed
and dexterity to close that loophole. Sorry, all you potential RTI warriors,
this cake has been eaten and secured for posterity or at least until these
proposed amendments can be overturned. There is no chance in life and afterlife
that it would, given the action to ensure the aam janata of the country don't
get to find out how political parties work.
The Chief
Information Commissioner had wanted six political parties - the Congress, the
BJP, the NCP, the CPM, the CPI and the BSP - to be prepared for RTI queries by
July 15. This deadline, since it was not set by any of the six afore-mentioned
parties themselves, was ignored by all of them. Talk about unity among parties,
a rare unity that didn't come about when one or the other of them blocked
successive sessions of Parliament over one scandal or the other.
The unanimity
to close the RTI window is not surprising: What exactly are the parties scared
of letting the people know? The Logger is sure most readers know why, but for
those who didn't have a clue: their funding and how they allot party tickets
for assemblies and Parliament. No one buys the theory that membership drives
are enough for parties run. This is popular fiction. So, someone somewhere with
money is bankrolling parties. Let's call them vested interests. As far as
selection of candidates for elections go, the media has been awash with reports
of protests that party tickets have been put on sale. Remember the Congress
leader who said Rajya Sabha tickets were available for anyone forking out
Rs.100 crore, the leader ate his words the same day under pressure.
With
Wednesday's Cabinet meeting okaying amendments to the RTI Act to ensure this
information was denied to applicants, these things will not hamper the parties'
images.
The RTI Act
is officially a bikini now. It's all visible but not ALL. The legislation, UPA
I's great achievement, which was meant to bring about transparency, now stands
violated. The workings of the government and departments, of course subject to
national security and defence concerns, are open for people to see and
question. If someone's after a bureaucrat, it will be open season for hunting
but politicians will continue to enjoy endangered species status.
Maybe the bad
vibes in the symbiotic bureaucrat-politician relationship after the Durga
Shakti Nagpal episode will force babus to strike against the RTI immunity
granted to political parties. But it's a big may be since India is vast enough
for both of them to cohabit.
Also on
Wednesday, the parties got together against Supreme Court strictures against
disqualifying convicted MPs and MLAs from holding elected office. They want the
government to move against the order and it is almost certain that the Manmohan
Singh government will appeal against it given the number of MPs and MLAs who
could be disqualified from contesting.