“I am not going anywhere, definitely not to Pakistan,” said Umar Khalid, popular Indian activist and former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University in the session, “Youth Unrest in India” held on the third day at Kerala Literature Festival 2019. The panel also consisted of Rahul Kosambi, Nikhila Henry and B. Arundathi was the moderator of the session.
The discussion started with Umar talking about the issues of being labelled as an anti-nationalist. He opined that the vilification of JNU is a reality and it is a campaign against the whole nation.
Nikhila Henry, prominent Indian journalist expressed her views on the ghettoization of Universities. She was asked about the changes in Indian colleges after the suicide of Rohith Vemula. Rahul Kosambi commented that, “The new trend of youth coming out and raising their voices against injustice is gladdening.”
The discussion was followed by a lively interactive session, where renowned Marathi theatre artist Makarand Sathe raised questions regarding the divide between Ambedkarites and Leftists.