💡 When Transparency Becomes a Threat: The Irony of Bank of Baroda’s “Reputation” Concern
By K. Srinivasrao, General Secretary - AIBOBOU Dated 05-11-2025

In a striking episode that exposes the uneasy relationship between truth and power, a recent letter from Bank of Baroda’s HR Department (dated 04.11.2025) accuses a senior union leader of “circulating misleading interpretations” of data obtained under the Right to Information Act (RTI) — a law meant to promote transparency and accountability.

What was the “offence”?
Simply sharing an official RTI reply showing that 1,670 employees had resigned from the Bank in just 2½ years (excluding retirements and VRS).

Rather than introspect on why so many are leaving, the management chose to shoot the messenger — alleging reputational damage and demanding an apology from the very person who exposed the fact.

⚖️ The Irony

Let’s unpack the situation:

• 🔹 The RTI Act itself guarantees the public right to information. Once disclosed, it becomes public record.
  Yet, the Bank accuses its own officer of “unauthorized publication” — as though transparency were a crime.
  
  

• 🔹 The Bank talks of ‘reputational loss’, but the real question is:
  What damages reputation more — the fact that 1,670 officers resigned, or the attempt to hide it?
  
  

• 🔹 The HR Department’s letter came from a personal email, not an official channel — yet it warns of disciplinary action and reputational risk.
  A telling symbol of how bureaucracy often fears its own shadow.
  
  

• 🔹 The Union’s reply, dated 05.11.2025, doesn’t merely defend the act — it lists 33 points exposing the lack of transparency, arbitrary transfers, opaque promotions, DFS guideline violations, unacknowledged grievances, and even tragic suicides of overburdened officers.
  
  

A challenge that echoes integrity — and silence from the other side speaks louder than any rebuttal.

🧭 What This Really Reflects

This is not about one letter or one officer.
It’s about a system where truth-telling is mistaken for defamation, and accountability is replaced by image management.

When management fears facts more than failures, when HR becomes a shield instead of a bridge, and when speaking the truth invites threats — it isn’t the messenger who damages reputation.
It’s the culture of denial that does.

🔍 The Real Takeaway

Transparency is not the enemy of reputation — opacity is.
A strong institution must have the courage to face its own data, not silence those who bring it to light.

RTI is a democratic right, not a disciplinary offence.
And when a public sector bank labels truth as “misleading,” it only reveals one thing:

The real crisis isn’t in resignations — it’s in leadership accountability.

🕊️ Because institutions don’t lose trust when people speak up — they lose it when they stop listening.

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