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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\nNew Delhi: A discussion on Umar Khalid\u2019s book was held outside the School of Social Sciences-II building Monday after JNU withdrew permission for the programme at the auditorium. The event was, however, disrupted by ABVP<\/a> members who stormed into the gathering and raised slogans.A large number of students had gathered for the discussion, with chairs arranged for the five speakers \u2014 historians Prabhu Mahapatra and Uma Chakravarti, writer Shuddhabrata Sengupta, activist Harsh Mander and Khalid\u2019s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri. A stall outside the venue displayed Khalid\u2019s book, Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power.JNUSU<\/a> president Aditi Mishra condemned the cancellation of the auditorium booking. Saying Khalid had been \u201cwrongly incarcerated\u201d without trial for six years, she said, \u201cGovt doesn\u2019t want people to know Khalid as an activist and a historian\u2026 They know if people read the book, they will know how he loved his country.\u201dMahapatra, Khalid\u2019s PhD thesis examiner, said, \u201cThe book talks about how powerful the tribes in Jharkhand were till the British came, and about the tension between class and community.\u201dAround 10 minutes into the discussion, while Mahapatra was speaking, ABVP members entered and moved towards the stage carrying posters questioning Khalid\u2019s views: \u201cHas Umar Khalid not defended Afzal Guru?\u201d, \u201cTerror is not your freedom of expression\u201d and \u201cIs Umar\u2019s father not associated with SIMI, a terror group?\u201d An ABVP member got into a heated argument with the speakers before security personnel removed him.Counter-sloganeering continued for over 1.5 hours. JNUSU and their supporters raised slogans including \u201cABVP go back\u201d and \u201cFree Umar Khalid and Sharjeel\u201d while ABVP members raised slogans like \u201cAatankwad ki kabar khudegi\u201d.Addressing the protesters, Mander said, \u201cWhy are Modi, Shah so afraid of Khalid that he has been kept in jail for six years without trial? RSS never participated in the fight for independence. Khalid has a Muslim identity, is young, leftist and atheist, and loves his country.\u201dLahiri said Khalid\u2019s PhD, on which the book is based, was the result of long hours of research. She said he had balanced his activism with academic work and spent hours in the library working on his thesis. Politics and activism, she added, were more difficult today than during their time as JNU students.Chakravarti\u2019s speech was disrupted by counter-sloganeering. Sengupta addressed the protesters amid the continuing disruption, with their speeches repeatedly interrupted.ABVP members questioned why Khalid\u2019s book was being discussed instead of works by other scholars on Adivasi communities. They also asked the speakers whether they considered Kashmir to be a part of India.The disruption continued till around 4.30 pm. Security personnel intervened when the situation became unruly.There was no response from the JNU VC or registrar.<\/div>\n