Chidambaram slams NITI Aayog for rejection of RTI on farm laws

Citing NITI Aayog's rejection of activist Anjali Bhardwaj's Right to Information Act (RTI) request regarding the information on farm laws, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday slammed the government body for the delayed actions.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram quoted Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and called government actions "curiouser and curiouser" (stranger).

"NITI Aayog's Committee of Chief Minister's on Agriculture concluded its deliberations in September 2019 and gave its report After 16 months, the report has not yet been "presented" to NITI Aayog's governing council! Why, nobody knows and nobody will answer!" he tweeted.

"Citing this as the reason, the RTI request of Ms Anjali Bhardwaj for a copy of the report has been rejected! Alice would have said "curiouser and curiouser" I salute Ms Anjali Bhardwaj for her tenacity and single-minded pursuit of information," the Congress leader said in another tweet.

Chidambaram had criticised the Central government for its stand on protestors agitating against new farm laws.

In December he tweeted, "Ministers have described the protesters against the Farm Laws as Khalistanis; agents of Pakistan and China; Maoists; and, the latest, tukde tukde gang. If you exhaust all these categories, it means there are no farmers among the thousands of protesters. If there are no farmers, why is the government talking to them?"

However, he had welcomed Supreme Court's intervention in the matter and said, 'the concern expressed by the Supreme Court over the farmer's protest is justified and the decision to form Committee to help find a solution is well-intentioned.

The farmer protest has been going on since August 9 between farmers and the centre regarding three farm acts that were passed in September 2020. The next round of talks is scheduled for January 19.

(ANI)

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