JNU Pulls Auditorium Booking for Umar Khalid Book Discussion

A venue dispute becomes a speech fight

Jawaharlal Nehru University withdrew the School of Social Sciences-I auditorium for an August 10 discussion of Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power, a book by former student Umar Khalid. The university said organisers had not disclosed the “full facts” about the programme, while the students’ union said it would hold the discussion elsewhere on campus.indianexpress +1

The decision was communicated on August 9, one day before the scheduled 3 p.m. event. JNU said the dean who initially approved the booking had also cancelled it; the booking request described the programme as a public talk for Adivasi Divas and a book discussion.indianexpress +1

Organisers reject the procedural explanation

The JNU Students’ Union called the move “arbitrary and authoritarian” and argued that the dean had been told the event concerned Khalid’s book. A faculty representative named on the requisition likewise said the booking followed the dean’s advice, questioning why approval had been granted if information was missing.indianexpress +1

The union said the programme would proceed in the open outside the School of Social Sciences-II building while it sought another venue. Its planned panel included historians and academics Prabhu Mohapatra and Uma Chakravarti, artist Shuddhabrata Sengupta, activist Harsh Mander and Khalid’s partner, Banojyotsna Lahiri.etvbharat +1

The RSS-linked Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad opposed the event and claimed credit for the cancellation. Its JNU president, Mayank Panchal, said the campus should not be used to glorify a person accused of serious anti-national activity and violence.thehindu +1

The book and the case sharpen the stakes

Published from Khalid’s JNU doctoral research, Fractured Communities examines Adivasi histories, resistance and struggles over water, forests and land. The discussion was organised around the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, giving the cancellation a second fault line beyond the political controversy surrounding its author.indianexpress +1

Khalid has been jailed since September 2020 under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in an alleged conspiracy case connected to the northeast Delhi riots. The violence, amid protests over citizenship policy, killed 53 people and injured more than 700; Khalid remains an accused awaiting trial, not a convicted defendant.etvbharat +1

The immediate practical effect is limited to a room: organisers say the gathering will continue. The larger dispute is over whether JNU applied a neutral booking rule or found a procedural basis to restrict a politically contentious academic discussion—a divide the university’s brief explanation has not resolved.indianexpress +1