AS we go to press, parliament continues to be disrupted. This is being done for the first time in its history by a party that is a member of the union cabinet and is sharing power at the centre. Clearly, the BJP-led NDA does not want to face issues in the house and is resorting to disruption in order not to be accountable for its gravest acts of omission and commission. India has not had a government that so brazenly jettisons parliamentary traditions and institutions.

For the first time, again, we have a government at the centre, which refuses to be accountable. Various scams in the financial sector in which thousands of crores of people's savings have been looted does not even generate a tone of remorse from the finance minister. The killings of innocent people in Kashmir and the deteriorating situation in the north-east continues, but the home minister remains unanswerable. Rail accidents take place and the railways minister refuses to accept any responsibility. Needles of suspicion point towards the prime minister's office (PMO) and all he does is to enact yet another of the by-now-familiar drama of resignation.

The current confrontation in the parliament centres round the important issue of centre-state relations. In order to settle political scores, the central government has requisitioned the services of three police officers who are currently facing a judicial enquiry for the arrest of former chief minister and DMK leader Karunanidhi, etc. By seeking to remove these officers from their positions, the central government clearly seeks to sabotage the process of enquiry ordered by the state government, lest the actual truth is revealed. In any case, officers of a central cadre like the IPS are posted with the state government’s concurrence. By seeking to issue directives without the state government's concurrence, the Vajpayee government is undermining the very essence of federalism and centre-state relations as defined by our constitution. The intention, clearly, is malafide. And such manipulations of the constitution cannot be allowed.

The silence of the NDA allies, many of whom emerged as political parties by championing the rights of the states and seeking the restructuring of centre-state relations in the first place, displays opportunism of the highest order. In their lust for power and eagerness to share the spoils of office, allies like the DMK, TDP, Akali Dal, who once used to be important players in conclaves demanding a democratic restructuring of centre-state relations are shamelessly abandoning their own principles.

If the Vajpayee-led NDA coalition continues to abdicate accountability in parliament, jettison constitutional norms, and undermine the federal content of our constitution, then the people of India will hold them accountable at the first opportunity.