Blood of the innocent

Ravishankar Ravi Guwahati

The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) has gone on a killing spree with numerous bomb blasts in Assam, but it has only succeeded in rocking its own boat. Consequently, the people have started raising fingers at the intentions and politics of the banned organisation. There was a time when the ULFA claimed to be a militant, ‘revolutionary’ organisation whose avowed purpose was to wage a war against the Indian government for the ‘liberation’ of Assam. However, over the last few years, the sympathisers of ULFA have been forced to change their opinion about the underground outfit, leading to a sharp decline in public support with the ULFA being accused of systematically using communalism and terrorism as its ideological identity.

During the 1980-90 phase, people turned up in thousands to pay their homage to the ULFA cadres killed in action against the security forces. However, the situation has taken a dramatic turn-around now with people burning the effigies of ULFA commander, Paresh Barua, and raising slogans against the outfit. Barua is stated to be hiding in Bangladesh. The prevailing situation is such that Assam’s non-political organisations have not only condemned the violent killings of innocent people, especially hardworking and poor migrant Biharis, but have also opposed the ULFA’s demand for an ‘independent,  sovereign Assam’. Among the organisations criticising the ULFA are the Assam Manvadhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS) and the Peace Committee for Peace Initiative (PCPI), which have been ULFA sympathisers in the past.

According to journalist Samudra Gupt Kashyap, “The attack on security forces and destruction of national property can still be understood in a given context, but the bombing of innocent children who came to participate in a Republic Day function at Dhemaji, the attack on Hindi-speaking labourers living in the state for the last many years, the brutal killings of north Indian migrant labourers and explosions at public places -- is this any kind of revolution? This has neither logic nor rationality.” He is certain that the people’s honeymoon with ULFA is over; it’s clear that political degradation is hounding the hierarchy and character of the militant outfit.

If the survey conducted by Assam Public Works is anything to go by, 95 per cent of the Assamese people do not support the ULFA’s demand of independent Assam. The results of the survey conducted in nine districts of the state is rejected by the ULFA, citing it as the handiwork of the Union home ministry’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), but the way demonstrations are being staged by the Assamese people against the organisation’s violent methods clearly indicate that the outfit has reached its rock-bottom in terms of mass popularity, political vision and praxis.

For instance, the former publicity secretary of the ULFA and currently a journalist, Sunil Nath, is upset and astonished with the ULFA’s political strategy. He said that earlier there used to be serious ideological discussions in the party before any campaign and no innocent civilian was ever made a victim of violence. At that time, the ULFA’s ideology and politics used to be above caste, religion and community consideration.

Indeed, in the opinion of the Assam Sahitya Sabha (ASS) and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which are mass-based organisations, the threat to the Hindi-speaking population to quit Assam is loaded with communal overtones. It has been confirmed that 80 people have been killed and more than 300 injured in the month of January in the ULFA attacks. Most of these are poor, migrant brick kiln workers who hail from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and who return home after six months of gruelling work for miserable wages. The army has been called in to break the underground camps after the ULFA’s aggressive and violent stand to create a social and cultural divide in Assam.

Meanwhile, the ULFA has suggested that all ‘Indians’ should quit Assam. After the army’s deployment, the ULFA is continuously carrying out explosions in Hindi-speaking areas, leading to massive exodus of north Indian labourers and an atmosphere of terror and anarchy. In far-flung areas of Assam, the north Indians are being kept in camps under army vigilance. Even then, the people are living in abject fear.

It is believed that behind the attack on Hindi-speaking labourers is ULFA’s rather dubious strategy to make way for Bangladeshi immigrants who will thereby occupy the space left by these people. Dr Samujjwal Bhattacharya, an advisor to the AASU, which is relentlessly campaigning against infiltration from Bangladesh, confirms this theory. According to him, after forcibly pushing out north Indian labourers, Bangladeshi infiltrators are bound to get these jobs. He agrees that the ULFA is tongue-tied on the activities of ISI-backed jehadi outfits in Assam and this raises suspicion on the intentions and alliances of the outfit. “Why does the ULFA target the Hindi-speaking people instead of resuming direct talks with the central government? The AASU condemns the killings of innocent people, be it by the security forces or underground organisations and has clarified its position on the ULFA’s demand of independent Assam,” Bhattacharya said.

According to him, the AASU wants an amicable settlement of the complex issues within the provisions of the Indian Constitution, including the contentious issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators. Besides, how does the ULFA considers the entry of other people from different Indian states in Assam more dangerous than Bangladeshi infiltration? In its latest edition, Freedom, the mouthpiece of the ULFA, has suggested that all Indians must leave Assam as long as ‘political conflict’ with India continues.

Rejecting the demand of independent Assam, the president of Assam’s most prestigious literary body, the Assam Sahitya Sabha, Kanaksen Deka, says, “The ULFA doesn’t represent the people of Assam and Assam is an integral part of India. No one needs to leave Assam.” These views are also backed up by Bhattacharya. “North Indians settled in Assam, too, are people of this state: they have the right to live here while Bangladeshis are not Indian citizens and it is they who must leave the state and go back to their own country,” he says emphatically.

However, the chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, treads a different ground on the Bangladeshi migrant issue and keeps his cards close to his chest. But he believes that Hindi-speaking people living here since decades form an integral part of Assam. To provide them security is the duty of the state government. He said that as the people of Assam study, work and do business in different parts of India as Indian citizens, people of other states have the right to work and live in Assam and full security would be provided to them.

However, despite the assurance and the army’s offensive, the ULFA’s terror tactics seem to go on unabated. The atmosphere of fear prevails. Indeed, it’s going to be a difficult journey for non-Assamese people in the days to come in Assam, despite the best support and solidarity of all organisations and local people in Assam who hate the politics of violence.