RTI - Right To Ignore

By Manuwant Choudhary

I am not interested in knowing who is Mr. Kejriwals next target but will be happy if anyone enlightened us on Mr. Kejriwals diet...and where he gets this energy to shout day in day out outside some Congressman's house.

Also what does he read when he is not protesting?

I would guess he reads the CAG report in his free time.

So if the CAG mentions you somewhere, then you may be next.

I remember the CAG report always had these zillions of suspected scams, some real some maybe not and as journalsists maybe in 5 years we would find something worth publishing.

And its not that we wanted to protect governments but its just that the CAG report was as drab and boring as any government official.

But I guess not anymore.

I am not sure who is right and who is wrong but Mr. Kejriwals antics have made the government sit up.

So the minute Mr. Kejriwal finishes talking to the media, we have the Congress spokesperson Live.

And then no later we have a string of ministers replying not to Mr. Kejriwals charges but to inisist  no investigation are needed.

Finance minister P.Chidambaram then Company Affairs Minister Veerappy Moily and also Salman Khurshid.

And also the Haryana government..it was nice to see the faces of the Haryana officials who have destroyed Gurgaon.

I recall visiting Gurgaon before and it was so much better, now there are metros all over and the roads are terrible.

And when everyone has finished the Prime Minister says frivilous information are sought under the Right To Informaton and that it violates privacy.

Actually it all started with an RTI activist seeking details of Sonia Gandhi's foreign tours...and he has got no reply for 2 years now.

And what the nantional media are not talking about is an RTI by Madhu Kishwar, editor, Manushi, seeking details of Rahul Gandhi's foreign travels and his official meetings if any...but so far no reply from the government.

Madhu Kishwar says people have been writing to her saying she is very brave to file such an RTI and she says there is nothing brave about it..its a simple query.

But the people who say she is brave know the Congress Party can harm her when they want.

Her other RTI is also interesting. She wants the written order for imposing the National Emergency in 1975 by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

The Prime Minister should know that these RTI have nothing private about them...or even secret.