Should a democracy extend freedom of speech, guaranteed under the Constitution, to cover those who advocate secession?
While many liberal activists will insist that this should be the case, and even give instances of the US and other democracies in the West where right to free expression has a wider application, the political class here seems to be unanimous in holding that the Constitution provides no immunity to those engaged in advocacy of secession.
A day after leaders of secessionist movements, human rights activists and some liberals came together to provide a platform to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Arundhati Roy to defend their anti- India stand, government indicated that it could take action against the speakers and organisers.
Home minister P Chidambaram announced this after BJP's Arun Jaitley launched a withering attack on the government, accusing it of glossing over the open espousal of secessionism.
Chidambaram said authorities had videographed proceedings of the seminar and had submitted them to legal advisers for opinion whether there was a violation of laws.
"If it is established prima facie that laws have been violated, Delhi police will take action in accordance with the law," the home minister said.
Though Chidambaram strongly contested Jaitley's charge, his promise of action indicated that the country's two biggest parties were one in taking the view that the Constitution empowers authorities to clamp down on secessionist speeches.
At a convention `Azadi -- The Only Way', Geelani repeated his theme for J&K's secession, winning wholehearted endorsement from Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy.
The organisers and participants included S A R Gilani, who was arrested for the terror attack on Parliament but was acquitted by SC, and Maoist sympathiser Vara Vara Rao.
In his statement, Jaitley accused the government of "looking the other way" when participants at the conference publicly instigated secessionism and said that India could not be one and must be broken.
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 could go through its contents and decide on further action, he added.
Launching a stinging attack, Jaitley had said, "What happened in Delhi on Thursday when a group of separatists got together to hold a seminar to promote sedition under the nose of the government has stunned the nation.
In a democracy, the right to secede cannot be accepted in the garb of right to free speech."
He added, "There are two responsibilities and obligations of the state -- to prevent such events and to punish the offenders. The government exercised the option of looking the other way."