ABVP Protests Umar Khalid Book Event Outside JNU Social Sciences Building

A discussion on Umar Khalid’s book was held outside the School of Social Sciences-II building at Jawaharlal Nehru University on Monday, after university authorities withdrew permission to hold the programme inside the auditorium.

Despite the venue cancellation, a large number of students gathered in the open space outside the building to attend the event. The gathering was subsequently disrupted when members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) stormed into the assembly and raised slogans.

Organisers arranged seating outside for five designated speakers, including historians Prabhu Mahapatra and Uma Chakravarti, writer Shuddhabrata Sengupta, activist Harsh Mander, and Khalid’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri. A book stall set up outside the venue displayed copies of Khalid’s publication, titled Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aditi Mishra strongly condemned the university administration's decision to cancel the auditorium booking. Mishra stated that Khalid had been wrongly incarcerated without trial for six years, adding that the government did not want people to know Khalid as an activist and a historian. She stated that if people read the book, they would know how he loved his country.

Speaking at the gathering, Prabhu Mahapatra, who served as Khalid’s PhD thesis examiner, discussed the academic content of the publication. Mahapatra noted that the book addresses how powerful the tribes in Jharkhand were until the arrival of the British, as well as the ongoing tension between class and community.