New Delhi, Aug 10:
The Jawaharlal Nehru University on Sunday said that permission has been cancelled for an August 9 discussion by JNUSU on a book authored by its former student Umar Khalid, who is in jail in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case, at a university auditorium over “non-disclosure of full facts” about the event.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) alleged that the cancellation was an “arbitrary and authoritarian” decision by the administration and accused it of attempting to suppress academic discussion and dissent.
The discussion on the book “Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power”, being organised by JNUSU on the occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, was scheduled to be held at the School of Social Sciences-I (SSS-I) auditorium from 3 pm.
It will feature professors Prabhu Mahapatra and Uma Chakravarti, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, and social activists Harsh Mander and Banojyotsna, according to the event poster.
“The discussion on Fractured Communities will proceed as planned, outside the SSS-II building, in the open,” the JNUSU said, adding that they are also looking for an alternative venue.