Now Reading: JNU cancels Umar Khalid book discussion over incomplete details
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JNU cancels Umar Khalid book discussion over incomplete details
Jawaharlal Nehru University has cancelled a Monday discussion on Umar Khalid’s book ‘Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power’, citing non-disclosure of full facts about the programme. The event, organised…
The Story in Brief
Jawaharlal Nehru University has cancelled a Monday discussion on Umar Khalid’s book ‘Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power’, citing non-disclosure of full facts about the programme. The event, organised by the students’ union for Tribal Day, was scheduled at the SSS-I auditorium from 3 pm to 6 pm.
The university says the Dean of Social Sciences approved the booking on August 7 but revoked it two days later. Speakers included academics Professors Prabhu Mahapatra and Uma Chakravarti, writer Shuddhabrata Sengupta, activist Harsh Mander, and Khalid’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri. The university has not specified what facts were withheld. Khalid, a former JNU student, has been in custody since 2020 under UAPA charges related to the Delhi riots. The students’ union claims the event will go ahead at another venue.
The Indian Opinion
The cancellation, minutes after approval, feeds rival narratives: that JNU punishes dissent, or that the organisers breached rules. Neither is fully supported. The university’s vague ‘non-disclosure’ charge and its tagging of top ministers suggest political signalling, not procedural rigour. Yet the event’s focus, Adivasi history, is academic, not seditious. The test will be whether JNU discloses the specific missing fact, and whether the book discussion actually happens on Monday at an alternative spot as the students’ union says.
Sources (4): timesofindia.indiatimes.com, freepressjournal.in, deccanchronicle.com, thefederal.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 4 sources linked above.
