BJP waiting for Govt to take action on Roy, Geelani

BJP today said it was still waiting for Home Minister P Chidambaram to take action against Kashmiri separatists and Naxal sympathisers for making remarks that "threaten" the constitutional integrity of the country.

BJP today said it was still waiting for Home Minister P Chidambaram to take action against Kashmiri separatists and Naxal sympathisers for making remarks that "threaten" the constitutional integrity of the country.

HT Image

"The language used (by separatists at the seminar) certainly threatens the constitutional integrity of the country and the answer given at that time by the Home Minister was that there was a recording available and he would want to see it and that he would take action, if necessary," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

"We are waiting to see what action the Home Minister is going to take," Sitharaman said.

At the convention on 'Azadi--The Only Way' here last week, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had 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. The Booker Prize winning author had said, "Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. It is a historical fact. Even the Indian government has accepted this." BJP had taken strong exception to the remarks, saying freedom of speech did not mean the right to demand secession.

It had accused the Centre of "looking the other way" and not taking any legal action. On Roy's role in the whole event, Sitharaman maintained that such activists were supporting Naxals and separatists in the name of human rights.