JNUSU reiterates discussion on Umar Khalid's book will go ahead despite venue cancellation

New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Monday reiterated that a scheduled discussion on former JNU student Umar Khalid's book "Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power" will be held despite the cancellation of the venue's booking.

The discussion, organised on the occasion of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, was earlier scheduled at the School of Social Sciences-I (SSS-I) auditorium from 3 pm.

The university had cancelled the booking, saying "full facts" about the programme had not been disclosed.


The JNUSU, however, termed the decision "arbitrary and authoritarian" and said the cancellation of the venue's booking would not stop the discussion.

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"However, let it be clear: cancelling a room does not cancel a conversation. No administrative order can suppress the right of students to think, question, and discuss," the students' union said in a statement.

The union reiterated that the discussion will proceed at an alternate venue, outside the SSS-II building, and called upon students, faculty and staff to participate.

"Come in large numbers. Defend your right to know, to read, and to discuss," it said.

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The discussion is scheduled to feature professors Prabhu Mahapatra and Uma Chakravarti, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, and social activists Harsh Mander and Banojyotsna, according to the event's poster.