Harassed and hounded, whistle-blowers in Gujarat, who out to expose corruption through the Right-To-Information (RTI) Act, have been living life on the edge.

But the Gujarat government’s latest strategy to put them under the scanner has only emboldened them to go ahead with their mission to raise the curtain on the politicians winking at illegal activities, with greater vigour.

The RTI activists, indeed, are all set to form an association to demand adequate protection from the state administration as also to fight those trying to suppress the implementation of the useful law.

Many anti-graft campaigners have allegedly been threatened, beaten and even killed in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state.

One year has gone by but justice has still not been done to the family of Amit Jethwa who was gunned down outside the Gujarat High Court for attempting to blow the lid off illegal mining near the Gir lion sanctuary. His father Bhikhu Jethwa has named BJP strongman Dinu Solanki as accused but the latter has not even been questioned or collared by the police so far.

Bhagu Dewani, a 70-year-old advocate, was attacked only last month for seeking information on unauthorised construction and illegal mining in Porbandar, especially by former BJP minister Babu Bokhiria.

The elderly crusader, who was dragged out of his car, beaten with sticks by six men and also stabbed in the back, is bent on going to the Supreme Court if he does not get justice from the high court.

In February, Jabbardan Gadhvi, a 45-year-old social reformer of Kutch, had set himself ablaze in the compound of the revenue officer’s office in Rapar town. He had been receiving constant threats from government officials and local policemen for seeking information through the RTI Act on irregularities in cattle grazing in the district.

But the RTI activists are up in arms after the revenue department last week told the 26 district collectors to keep tabs on them and sought details about the kind of information the eager-beavers wanted.

However, the state government officials, while citing recent instances of attack on the RTI users, claimed that the initiative was being taken only to provide protection to them, adding that the move would also help in curbing the misuse of information provided to the applicants.

But Dewani, Jethwa and their tribe instantly saw through the Modi government’s game plan. About 70 RTI advocates earlier this week gathered in Ahmedabad for a brain-storming session to discuss the government move to put them under the lens, which, some say, has created an emergency-like situation in Gujarat.

While Dewani said there was a hidden agenda to pressurise and threaten information-seekers, Jethwa said the government was finding it hard to cope with the increasing accountability and the explanations which it had to give in response to the queries being raised under the RTI Act.

In fact, the BJP administration has been put in a spot on several occasions, on the basis of information received through applications filed through the RTI Act.

Even during the last assembly session, it was dumbstruck when Congress lawmakers raised a storm in the House over allotment of land to industrialists, the minutest details of which were procured through RTI applications.

Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia told Khaleej Times that the ‘undemocratic’ move to keep an eye on RTI champions was nothing but a desperate attempt to threaten them. He said the black-listed activists’ details and information collected through this exercise would be given to intelligence personnel for further hounding them.

According to Rohit Prajapati, a Vadodara-based tree-hugger, the Modi government does not want to see anyone pointing out at its shortcomings and failures.

Bharat Zala of the Citizens Resource and Actions Initiatives said the proposed association of RTI activists should also strive for a compensation of Rs 1 million to the family of the slain member, and demand separate information commissioners for each district, besides a Bill for providing protection to them.

Famed Bharat Natyam exponent and social activist Mallika Sarabhai, who boosted the spirit of hard-up RTI users by attending their meeting, feels that the space for honest citizens to ask for any information in the BJP-ruled state is shrinking by the day. All said and done, with an association of RTI activists being formed soon, these whistle-blowers’ fight against Gujarat’s greedy men is sure to reach a furious crescendo in the none-too-distant future.

— mahesh@khaleejtimes.com