The Road Not Taken: Journey Of Lokesh Batra Who Exposed Electoral Bonds (CommodoreLokeshBatra @CommodoreBatra)
Lokesh Batra, known for his relentless efforts on extracting information using the Right To Information (RTI) act, is one of India’s transparency activists who often monitors the government and exposes the irregularities.
The man is now gaining limelight as the Supreme Court today struck down the electoral bond scheme introduced by the central government in 2018. Having served 36 years, the Commodore retired from the Indian Navy in 2002 and took the road not taken by other government officials after their retirements.
Without looking for post-retirement jobs or benefits, Lokesh Batra decided to serve the society being spending his time as a watchdog of governments going deeper into the policies and digging out information. Mr Batra says that it is the citizen”s right to know if the taxpayer’s money is being optimally spent on nation-building and welfare schemes. In his opinion, a government servant’s primary duty is to the people and not their political masters.
In his post- retirement life, he has become part of many cases, exposing the neglect by the authorities. He was the one who filed the RTI application to find out the prime minister Modi’s foreign tour expenses.
On his interest in following the authorities for the public good, Mr Batra says that he has loads of patience and discipline to follow up on every case. Despite facing the accusations of being a peddler of misinformation, he did not retreat from his duties. In his continues quest for truth, he has even faced numerous threats, as he admitted that his family was concerned over the intimidations they receive.
One of the threats that the 76-year-old Lokesh Batra received as NDTV quoted reads, “Gauri Lankesh was a journalist, she was a Hindu but she was murdered by members of a Hindutva organisation. The reason is because she was a “traitor”, she was “anti-national” and “anti-Hindu”. After her death, will anyone in this country have the courage to write against Modi, RSS or BJP? Whoever writes will not be spared. Along with Muslims, “these traitors” will also be eliminated.”
Mr Batra though faced with numerous threats has been striving to ensure transparency in the governance using the RTI, which came into existence in 2005. When the government launched the electoral bond scheme in 2018, Mr Batra reportedly filed more than 80 RTI requests to collect more data on the scheme. From then onwards, his relentless pursuit of the electoral bond scheme brought the alleged hideous intentions behind the scheme. The petitioners who challenged the electoral bond scheme quoted numerous data obtained by Mr Batra in the Court. Mr Batra thus became one of the key figures who was instrumental in reaching today”s Supreme Court verdict on electoral bonds, adding values to India”s voters.
At a time when the officials are mostly looking for post-retirement benefits, Mr Batra’s different journey has been creating positive impacts in the society.
