'I Must Acknowledge the Role of the Present Regime and its Foot Soldiers...': Umar Khalid

Almost a decade spent at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) draws to a close. Time, as usual, has flown like a whirlwind. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to spend a third of my life here. I feel so even more today considering that public education itself is fast being turned into a relic of the past. The present dispensation in the country and its foot soldiers in the administration are unabashedly attempting to accomplish their mission of shutting down JNU.

But if anything these years spent at JNU have taught me, it is to seek possibilities in the most difficult of situations; it is to be audacious in our hopes. I leave this space with immense hopes from the student movement of JNU, of which I am extremely proud to have been a part. Notwithstanding all the lies and attacks, JNU will not only survive but will play its part in bringing down the fascist forces currently at the helm.

It is therefore pertinent that I first of all acknowledge this entity called JNU that has shaped me for life. This university, for me, as for anyone else who has studied or taught here, is not just an abstract entity. Its life and soul stand for certain values and convictions. It teaches you to interrogate not just the world but also yourself constantly. As we fought over the years to democratise this university, we also strived to move an inch towards the much more difficult process of democratising ourselves. And of course, JNU also teaches you to speak truth to power, which the ruling dispensation would do well to realise only gets strengthened in the face of their attacks. I wish to thank each and every constituent of this university – be it the students, teachers, workers, guards, shopkeepers, staff, karamcharis – who have helped me in this direction.

Never have I invested so much thought, energy and time in something as in the present work, while there has been so much uncertainty surrounding it. Even as I write this acknowledgement, I am not sure whether I will be allowed by the JNU administration to submit this thesis. But another thing that JNU has taught me is that education and research cannot be reduced to a mere paper degree. The goal in undertaking this research was never that. If the present work can clear the way for a more nuanced understanding of the present struggles of the Adivasis in Jharkhand, I would be more than content. The social worth of education is therefore the teaching I take from JNU. However, had it not been for the constant support of many people, I would not have been able to pull through this work.

An eccentric and irregular student like me was extremely fortunate to have a most tolerant and encouraging supervisor in Dr Sangeeta Dasgupta. I missed many deadlines, postponed my presentations, went missing for months, but she was not only bearing of all of it but also stood by me at one of the most difficult junctures in my life. At a time when several people were hell-bent on demonising me, she humanised my image in front of the world through her article in the Indian Express. In 2010, when I took up her course as an MA student, I had several incoherent and, as I now understand, naive ideas about the Adivasis and their past. Conversations with her have not only broadened and nuanced many of these ideas but have also pushed me to interrogate what I initially held to be the most politically convincing ideas but which lacked intellectual rigour. She and Dr Padmanabh also welcomed me to their home for conversations that went beyond the academic.

I also want to acknowledge Prof. Neeladri Bhattacharya, whose lectures on ‘Historical Methods’ made me attentive to several significant dimensions of history writing. Prof. Tanika Sarkar’s lectures on religion made me aware of the need to look beyond what appears on the surface, and this helped me considerably while reading the archives. Prof. Rajat Datta not only bailed me out from jail and welcomed me into his home but has also kept his wit alive in these otherwise difficult times for the university.

I also want to thank Prof. Aditya Mukherjee, Prof. Mridula Mukherjee and other professors of Centre for Historical Studies, and also teachers from other centres of JNU who have stood by me. I also want to thank all other teachers from different schools and centres, and the JNUTA, which led from the front and took away the fog of fear that had descended upon the university in February 2016.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

I wish to acknowledge the immense help provided by Prof. Carol Upadhyay and Dr. Joseph Bara. In the last phase of my PhD, when I could no longer travel for reasons beyond my control to conduct my fieldwork, they were kind enough to share with me some of the primary materials. These materials have been crucial in finishing this work. Conversations with Dr A.K. Sen in Chaibasa helped me acquaint myself with the extremely rich district record room there.

The team of lawyers – Jawahar Raja, Chinmay Kanojia, Gautam Bhatia, Shahana, Trideep Pais, Vrinda Bhandari as well as Akhil Sibal, Rebecca John and Kamini Jaiswal – brought us out of jail and then kept us safe from the vindictive actions of the JNU VC. Anandji was always kind enough to greet me with a smile despite all the time that I kept him waiting at the courts. I wish to apologise to him here, with a promise to reach on time in the future to sign my petitions.

Apeksha, Amir, Albert, Baasit, Chepal, Jatin, Hamid and Shubham have been comrades in arms in Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Student Organization, from whom I have learnt a lot in the struggles we have fought together. Aswathi, beyond just being a comrade, has also been a fellow traveller in this arduous task of writing a PhD, and both of us now need to figure out what to do in our lives. The fact that she is as visionless as I am about what to do next is reassuring as we both now step out of JNU. Over the years, Ufaque remains one of the closest friends that I have had in JNU, and her help was crucial in the completion of this PhD. Rajat and Azram have been people who have helped me understand the importance of detachment for the purpose of any analysis – be it an ongoing struggle on the campus or academic work. Priyaranjan remains the big boss, my go-to person for any advice on anything under the sun for the last nine years. I have had some of the most intellectually stimulating conversations with him, some of which also reflect in this work. Over the years, I have borrowed so many ideas and expressions from fellow history-sheeter, historian, ‘seditionist’ and comrade AnirBan that it is difficult for me now to say whether any of my ideas are my own. We have spent so much time together, but the time spent together in Tihar Jail with him will remain the most memorable. I have irritated him many times, but he has remained rock-solid by me every single time.

Komal, Chanya, Anwesha, Reyaz, Rubina and Kanupriya are friends and comrades who have strengthened me and each other in difficult times. Muntaha and Sagrika have kept checking on me over the past few months about the progress of this work and pushed me back to work when I tended to drift away. Akash and Preeti, along with me, are some of the survivors at the Centre for Historical Studies who have stayed on over the years and marched in defence of history. When I try to recall the first seven out of the nine years spent at JNU, I can only remember being involved in acrimonious debates with Kanhaiya, Rama, Fayyaz, Shehla, Mohit, Chintu, Anant, Ashutosh, Shweta, Sucheta, Suresh and many others as to how their idea of revolution was wrong and ours was correct. But when fascist forces sought to attack us, all of us stood and fought back from the same side of the barricade. Samim Da has captured numerous historical moments of the last two years in JNU and has treated me to biryani and tea whenever I was tired and down and out.

Ammi and Baba taught me the value of standing up for one’s convictions no matter what, and it is this teaching that has strengthened me over the last few years. They have not only been extremely supportive in letting me pursue the decisions I have made for my life but have also never asked me to withdraw from anything out of fear of consequences for them or for me. I also wish to thank my sisters, Maryam, Kulsum, Zainab, Ayesha, Sarah, and my brothers-in-law, Abdul and Monis, for being strong pillars of love and support.

I possibly cannot thank Buno enough for the manner in which she tolerates my idiosyncrasies with such love and care. Her support has been crucial not only in my writing this PhD but also in standing up and fighting every time the tides have been tough.

Lastly, I also wish to acknowledge the present regime and its foot soldiers for instilling in me the resolve to go through the extremely difficult task of writing a PhD. Every time they attacked me and my comrades, it only strengthened my resolve to finish this work. As we smiled and fought back their attacks, we were reminded of the following words of Rumi:

In the slaughterhouse of love, they kill only the best,

none of the weak or the deformed. Don’t run away from this dying,

whoever is not killed for love is already dead meat.

Needless to say, the responsibility for all the errors in the work remains mine.

July 2018

Syed Umar Khalid is a social activist, a former student leader and was a research scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has been incarcerated since 2020 in a case widely criticised by global and domestic watchers.

The following is the 'Acknowledgements' section of Umar Khalid's thesis published in book form, Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power, published by Juggernaut.

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