JNUSU reiterates discussion on Umar Khalid's book will go ahead despite venue cancellation
The JNUSU has vowed to proceed with a scheduled discussion on Umar Khalid's book despite the university administration cancelling the original venue booking. The union criticized the administration's decision as authoritarian and called for students to gather at an alternative location.
Why it matters
This event reflects ongoing tensions regarding academic freedom, freedom of speech, and political discourse within Indian university campuses.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Monday (August 10, 2026) 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 p.m.
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.
"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.
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