Congress President Sonia Gandhi speaks in Lok Sabha
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, making a rare intervention in Parliament today, sharply attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for a "blatant U-turn" on their promise of transparency and good governance.
Setting the tone for her critique in Parliament, Mrs Gandhi in the morning tore into the prime minister for his "scam India to skill India" remarks during a visit to Canada last month. "This outrageous remark on foreign soil belittles the dignity of the office he holds and is an embarrassment to the nation," she said at a weekly meeting of her party MPs.
A little later in the Lok Sabha, Mrs Gandhi criticized what she called the government's "deplorable lapse" in keeping key posts like that of the Chief Information Commissioner and the Lokpal vacant while showing "extraordinary urgency" in introducing bills.
"The PM in the election campaign made many fraudulent promises about transparency. And continues to do so. In a blatant U-turn, his government, through the absence of a Chief Information Commissioner, has made sure that the highest offices are not accountable under the RTI Act," she said, taking on PM Modi directly. "Citizens no longer have the right to question the government," she added.
The Congress president accused the government of "brutally weakening" the Right to Information or RTI Act and shielding itself.
"Information delayed is information denied. This is unacceptable," she said, urging the government to "match its words of fighting corruption with action."
Mrs Gandhi had earlier moved an adjournment motion - her first in the current Lok Sabha, seeking a discussion in the house.
She and her son Rahul Gandhi continued their offensive outside Parliament, staying to talk to the media.
"Wherever the PM sees an institution that is constitutional, that people have faith in, he wants to end it as he wants all power with himself and corporates," added Rahul Gandhi, who has spoken thrice in Parliament since he returned from a sabbatical that kept him away in the first half of the budget session.