Gujarat govt won't reveal ministers' assets: Snub to Modi's transparency claims?

In an obvious snub to its former chief minister and India’s present Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ideal of transparency, the Gujarat government has rejected a RTI application which sought details about CM Anandiben Patel and other ministers’ assets. According to a report in  The Times of India, activist Anil Galgali from Mumbai filed an RTI query seeking a detailed report on the assets and liabilities of the CM and council of ministers over the past five years. However, the Gujarat government turned down the plea saying the information was not of any interest to the public. TOI reports: “In reply to the query, Gujarat government’s under secretary (cabinet) & public information officer PV Patel said, “The information sought cannot be furnished since information available to a person in this fiduciary relationship and the information sought is personal information, the disclosure of which has no relationship to public authority …” [caption id=“attachment_1660261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel. AFP.[/caption] As the report notes, most states in India have been unable to make ministers’ assets public. However, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, right from the day of its formation, has asserted that transparency will be pursued in issues of governance and ministers’ personal assets. The day Modi took oath as the country’s Prime Minister, his new website declared that his government’s ‘cornerstone’ would be transparency. In a section called ‘Transparency’, the website declared: ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly believes that transparency and accountability are the two cornerstones of any pro-people government. Transparency and accountability not only connect the people closer to the government but also make them equal and integral part of the decision making process.” Since the Gujarat government is viewed as an extension of the Modi government at the Centre and Modi’s is considered to be fairly involved in the state’s functioning in popular perception, its refusal to come out clean on the assets would be a blow to the PM’s claims. At the Centre, he has reportedly asked ministers and officials in the ministries to make details about property public on their departments’ respective websites. In a report published recently, on 10 August, PTI said, “In a bid to ensure transparency, the Narendra Modi government has asked all departments and ministries to put property details of officials on their respective websites. A government circular in this regard was recently received by the Defence Ministry, which says that the new rules for filing property returns are part of the government’s efforts to implement the Lokayukta Act, 2013.” The TOI report quotes former CIC Wajahat Habibullah as calling the Gujarat government’s move ‘retrograde and foolish’. He might not be completely off the mark since it is anyway mandatory for all politicians to declare their assets while filing nomination for any election. For example, while the government refused to respond to the RTI query, details of Anandiben Patel’s assets, as declared by her can be found on the Internet, presumably extracted from her election affidavit. One website lists Patel’s assets at Rs 86,34,882. It also says she has no liabilities. Therefore, the Gujarat government’s move can only be read as one that is spurred by its sense of ascendancy and lack of respect for public opinion.