Umar Khalid

Umar Khalid Biography

Umar Khalid is a political activist affiliated to Left Wing who came to limelight as a student leader. A former student of JNU, he has spearheaded many agitations in the recent past, and is best associated with 2016 JNU Sedition row. He is the son of SQR Ilyas, political activist and the president of Welfare Party of India. Khalid was a former Democratic Students' Union (DSU) leader in JNU, and is currently associated with Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Student Organisation and United Against Hate.

Umar Khalid was born in 1987 into a political and religious influential family. Born as the son of S. Q. R. Ilyas, the national president of the Welfare Party of India, he got involved with student politics during his academic years at Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he got attracted towards leftist ideologies. He rose to fame as a young student leader within college campus, and also got a lot of followers. His family originally belongs to Amravati district of Maharashtra, and now is settled at the capital city of India.

Umar Khalid graduated in history from Kirori Mal College of the Delhi University. For his Master’s classes, he joined JNU, where he continued his M. Phil studies as well. Initially JNU refused to accept his PhD thesis in July 2018, because of many agitations and violence involving him and also filed petitions raised against him. His name was involved with 2016 JNU Sedition row, where a few students of the campus held protest against the capital punishment meted out to the 2001 Indian Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat. Kanhaiya Kumar, JNU Student Union president who organized the event was arrested as well. He along with Jignesh Mevani was booked under an FIR for giving 'provocative' speeches in Pune, related to 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence.

Published: November 07, 2019

Updated: November 07, 2019