Govt diluting RTI Act to help corrupt people steal: Rahul

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Saturday that the Modi government is "diluting" the RTI Act to "help the corrupt steal from India", days after amendments to the legislation were passed by Parliament amid strong opposition protests.

While the Lok Sabha passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Monday, the Rajya Sabha

gave its approval on Thursday after opposition walkout

over what it said was "intimidation" tactics by treasury benches to influence voting on the motion to send the Bill to a Select Committee for greater scrutiny.

"Government is diluting RTI in order to help the corrupt steal from India.

Strange that the normally vociferous anti-corruption

crowd has suddenly disappeared," Gandhi said in a tweet, using the hashtag "GovtMurdersRTI".

His remarks come after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi alleged that the Modi government is "hell-bent on completely subverting" the RTI Act and wants to "destroy" the independence of the Central Information Commission.

The Congress Parliamentary Party leader, in a statement, had said the law, prepared after widespread consultations and passed unanimously by Parliament, now stands at the "brink of extinction".