Delhi Confidential: Seeking Transparency

2 min readNew DelhiJul 6, 2026 05:40 AM IST

Even as the row over alleged financial irregularities in the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust continues to simmer, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging the Centre to revisit its stand that the Trust is outside the ambit of the Right to Infor­mation Act. In his letter, Brittas argued that since the Trust was constituted through a government-approved scheme following the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict and the Centre played a foundational role in its creation, it ought to qualify as a “public authority” under the RTI Act. He also pointed to the presence of serving government officials in the Trust’s governing frame­work to contend that the institution retains an enduring governmental association. He urged the Home Ministry to reconsider its legal position and place a revised stand before the High Court, calling for greater transparency.

Missing the Opp?

IT IS not every day that those closely associated with the BJP and RSS look back fondly at the UPA years. But at an event to mark the 80th anniversary of RSS-affiliated Organiser weekly last week, nostalgia was in the air. Former editor R Balashankar recalled that the magazine’s articles and editorials were closely tracked by those in power, including the then PM Manmohan Singh, who, he claimed, looked forward to reading The Indian Express’s “View From the Right” column, which summarised the weekly’s content. “We were always criticising the PM… In those times writing anything critical was fine. Criticising Sonia Gandhi was great fun. The UPA government took note of it, and the Prime Minister reading it was a compliment,” Balashankar said. He also teased current Organiser editor Prafulla Ketkar, suggesting that with an

ideologically aligned government now in power, finding room for criticism must be far more difficult. Later, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale echoed the sentiment, acknowledging the challenge of bringing out a journal when a government with the same ideology is in office.