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JNU cancels event booking as discussion centred on jailed activist Umar Khalid's book ‘Fractured Communities’
Student union said no particular reason was given for cancelling venue. JNU on X later cited “non-disclosure of the full facts about the program” as the reason.
A book discussion on ‘Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power’, authored by jailed activist Umar Khalid, scheduled for Monday, August 10, in an auditorium at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, has been moved out of its originally designated venue. The book happens to be Khalid's PhD thesis when was a scholar at JNU.
“The event was supposed to take place in the auditorium of the School of Social Sciences, but the venue has now been cancelled,” the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) general secretary said, adding that the alternate venue would be announced separately.
While he asserted that no particular reason was given for cancelling the original venue, the JNU official handle on X later cited “non-disclosure of the full facts about the program” as the reason. The university admin also shared the permission letter in which the applicant mentioned the event as “Public Talk for Adivasi Diwas (Book Discussion)”.
The event was to feature a discussion on Khalid's book that examines Adivasi histories and the politics of power, and was organised by the JNUSU on the occasion of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples (or Vishva Adivasi Diwas). It was scheduled to take place at the School of Social Sciences-I (SSS-I) auditorium at 3 pm on Monday.
According to the event poster, speakers at the discussion include Professors Prabhu Mahapatra and Uma Chakravarti, writer and journalist Shuddhabrata Sengupta, social activist Harsh Mander and scholar Banojyotsna Lahiri, who also happens to be Khalid's partner.
Umar Khalid has been imprisoned since September 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) regarding the 2020 northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case. He continues to await the start of his trial. The violence erupted during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), leaving 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
What is Umar Khalid's book about?
Umar Khalid completed his PhD thesis on the history of the Adivasi tribes of the Singhbhum region of Jharkhand, which has formed the basis of the book. The thesis was submitted at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for Historical Studies in July 2018, and he was awarded his PhD the following year.
Historian-writer Ramachandra Guha has called it “one of the most accomplished doctoral dissertations by an Indian that I have read”.
The publisher's note on the book's Amazon listing says, “In Fractured Communities, published in book form for the first time, Khalid combines archival rigour with analytical clarity to illuminate the history of Singhbhum’s tribal societies under British rule. The book is both a valuable work of history and a critique of histories written from positions of power, which tend to flatten differences among and, more crucially, within communities.”
It adds, “At a time when public debates are increasingly shaped by simplistic versions of the past, the inquiry at the heart of Fractured Communities acquires a contemporary relevance that few historical works can match. And running through the narrative is a political philosophy grounded in democratic values and genuine concern for the marginalised.”
