Chidambaram refutes Jaitley's charge
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Rejecting BJP leader Arun Jaitley's charge, home minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said the Delhi police will take action in accordance with law over the speeches made by Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah and others at a seminar here on Thursday.
"I strongly reject Arun Jaitley's charge that the Centre was doing nothing when a seminar was held yesterday in which Geelani and others participated," he said in a statement.
Mr Chidambaram said the authorities have videographed the entire proceedings of the seminar and have submitted them to the legal advisers for opinion whether there has been a violation of the laws.
"If it is established prima facie that the laws have been violated, the Delhi police will take action in accordance with the law," he said. Mr Chidambaram was reacting to a hard-hitting statement by Jaitley this morning in which he had accused the government of "looking the other way" when a number of separatist groups met at a conference to instigate session and to say that India cannot be one and must be broken.
This, he said, was unacceptable as there was no right of free speech available to break up the country. This was against the sovereignty and integrity of the country and anyone exercising his right of speech in such a manner comes under criminal law. It is an offence against the state, the BJP leader said.
Mr Chidambaram said it was not correct to say that the government was keeping quiet. The government had taken all steps to monitor the meeting and had also done complete videographing of the proceedings so that it can go through its contents and to decide on further action.
At the convention on Azadi-The Only Way, Geelani shared the stage with writer Arundhati Roy and pro-Maoist leader Vara Vara Rao among others. Geelani was heckled by the audience with one of them throwing a shoe.
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