Demanding proof of citizenship is something most of us do at various points in our life. Passport controls, elections, club memberships, job applications, the works. Why should we object to one more aspect - an RTI application - requiring the same, along its course?
The big issue here, IMHO, is that the Public Authority should be given the right to ask the applicant not just for citizenship proof/declaration, but more importantly if the Applicant has loyalties to and accepts the Indian Constitution, and all that goes with it. I mean, there are all sorts of applicants, with loyalties to the unwilling Father in Bethelem, the confused Ghost in Rime, the marauding Paedophile in the Rub-al-Khali, the confused Chaddee in Amdavad, the triple-Friday-Saturday-Sunday Dome in Jerusalem, the King who had sex Ms. Syphillis in England and then threw the unwilling Father's representative out to form his own church in London . . . so on and so forth. So, let us not get perturbed if some babu is asking us for our Citizenship, said babu has a deeper understanding of the whole issue, and is just trying to get to the root of whether you are really an Indian Citizen first, or something else. we should all help here, and insist that all RTI applicants swear an oath of allegiance to the Indian Constitution, before all other loyalties. Veeresh Malik
