New Delhi: A day after his release from Tihar jail where he was lodged in a sedition case, JNU student Umar Khalid on Saturday presented a paper at the Young Scholar's Conference at the university.
The Centre for Historical Studies (CHS), was to organise its annual Young Scholars' Conference on February 18-20, however, the meet was postponed following the sequence of events that unfolded in JNU after the controversial February 9 event.
28-year-old Khalid, who is pursuing his PhD at the same department, presented a paper titled "Changing Village Authority in the Adivasi Hinterland: State, Community and Contingencies of Rule in Singhbhum (1830-1893)".
Khalid, a former member of the now-defunct, pro-Maoist Democratic Students Union (DSU), has been listed as one of the organisers of the event on campus against hanging of Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.
"Umar presented a paper and Anirban will have to start writing the last bit of his PhD. Because this is what we do in JNU..We study and we struggle. We fight in the streets brave your water canons, and come back to debate mode of production (as fiercely)," a student said.
In wake of the current row, there has been criticism of the varsity from various quarters who alleged that tax payers money is being wasted at JNU and the students should rather focus on studies than politics.
Khalid, who has been found guilty by the university of "arousing communal violence and disrupting communal harmony", was in custody along with Anirban Bhattacharya for three weeks. The duo walked out of Tihar on Friday after a city court granted them six-months interim bail.
They were accorded a huge welcome at the JNU campus where they addressed the gathering and asserted that they are proud of the fact that their name has been added to the list of the freedom fighters and activists who have been booked under sedition for raising their voice.
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