The Centre recently signed a so-called historic agreement with the pro-talks faction of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), which, in any case, remained among people – at peace. The pact is expected to protect the land of the indigenous communities, thwart alleged attempts at changing the demography of constituencies and ensure infrastructure development. However, the ULFA residue – the Paresh Baruah-led anti-talks faction – continues to remain a headache for the government.
When and why was ULFA founded?
The Assamese have their own unique culture, language, tradition, history and a strong sense of identity but they increasingly felt threatened by the unabated influx of migrants, which started in the 19th century, to the tea, oil and coal-rich region. The exodus of refugees from the then East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) — after the partition of India and during the Liberation War of Bangladesh — further increased the insecurities of the Assamese.
It was in this backdrop that a small group of radical young men, including Paresh Baruah, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia, Bhupen Borgohain, Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain, Budheswar Gogoi and the relatively older Bhimakanta Buragohain, who was the outfit’s political advisor and ideologue, got together at the Ahom-era Rang Ghar in Sivasagar on April 7, 1979 and founded the organisation.
The same year, the All Assam Students’ Union had launched the Assam Agitation against illegal migration from Bangladesh. It culminated with the signing of the Assam Accord with the Centre in 1985 but the concerns of the Assamese remained. All this while, ULFA was more like an overground organisation, actively working among people to strengthen its base. It started resorting to violent operations in the late 1980s when extortions, kidnappings and killings were common. So, the Centre banned it as a terrorist outfit in 1990.
Secret killings
The second term of former chief minister and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (1996-2001) was marked by ‘secret killings’ — a dark chapter in Assam’s history. Masked gunmen, allegedly surrendered ULFA members and policemen, would approach their targets — family members, relatives of ULFA rebels and ULFA sympathisers — at night and knock on the door. When the victims opened the door, they were shot or kidnapped to be shot elsewhere. Some 400 such killings happened between 1998 and 2001. They stopped only after the AGP was ousted from power in 2001. But in June last year, the Gauhati High Court upheld its 2018 order, absolving Mahanta of the charges of orchestrating the killings.
Efforts for peace
The first peace initiative was made in September 2005 when ULFA formed the People’s Consultative Group (PCG), led by eminent Assamese writer and Jnanpith Award winner Dr Indira Goswami, better known as Mamoni Raisom Goswami, for negotiations. Three rounds of talks were held at the then prime minister Manmohan Singh’s residence in December that year. However, the process inexplicably did not move any further.
Split in ULFA
Even as ULFA went about carrying out violent operations, Anup Chetia was arrested in Bangladesh under the Foreigners Act and the Passports Act and incarcerated. The rebel group suffered a body blow in 2009 when most of its top leaders, including chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, deputy ‘commander-in-chief’ Raju Baruah and ‘foreign secretary’ Sasha Choudhury, fell in the net of Bangladeshi authorities. Subsequently, they were handed over to India.
They languished in a jail in Guwahati for some time but when they agreed to join the peace talks, all charges against them were dropped and they were released.
On September 3, 2011, a tripartite agreement for Suspension of Operations was signed among the Centre, Assam government and ULFA. The agreement, however, caused a split in the outfit. While the group led by the Rajkhowa (pro-talks) decided to make peace, another faction led by ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah that operates out of Myanmar, stuck to its guns on the sovereignty demand. Chetia was handed over to India by Bangladesh in 2015 and he became a key leader of the pro-talks faction.
Takeaways from the latest accord
The development of infrastructure and protection of constituencies for the indigenous populace are the two biggest takeaways. Assam will get a series of infrastructure projects worth over `1.5 lakh crore. They will be implemented in a time-bound manner, the Centre said.
Explaining the benefits, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the political rights of the indigenous people would be protected. He said till a law is enacted to deport illegal migrants to Bangladesh, this pact is the final solution from the perspective of the security of the Assamese. The accord has ensured the highest level of protection to the Assamese within the constitutional limits, he claimed.
“The biggest achievement in 2023 was the delimitation exercise carried out by the Election Commission (EC). It secured 106 of the state’s 126 Assembly constituencies for the indigenous people. Now, only those people whose families lived in Assam for (at least) 100-200 years, will get elected from these seats. So, the EC must be commended,” Sarma added.
“There are two big points in the ULFA accord. It says the principles of the 2023 delimitation exercise will be maintained in future delimitation exercises in Assam. The state will be unaffected by the delimitation principles elsewhere in the country. This clause will protect Assam for the next 30-40 years,” he explained.
Alluding to a certain community, he said the accord would prevent people of one constituency from becoming voters of another constituency. He said the Assamese lost one constituency after another to ‘others’ because of such migration of voters. It affected the demography of constituencies. “The accord says such migrants now have to be permanent residents of the constituency where they are shifting through the procurement of land or they have to be government employees. There will be further discussions and analysis on the conditions,” Sarma said.
He indicated that the migration of the surplus population of the community in question from one constituency to another was part of a design to change its demography. On the indigenous people’s rights to land, he said after the ULFA pact, ‘others’ would not be able to purchase land within a radius of 5 km from an iconic structure.
Challenges ahead
There is a perception that permanent peace cannot be established unless the ULFA’s anti-talks faction is brought to the talks table. Baruah says sovereignty should be on the table for him to open talks. But Sarma ruled out sovereignty.
He said he would want Baruah to visit Assam once for 15 days with safe passage so the insurgent leader gets to know the state’s changing reality. If Baruah visits the state and talks to people, the outfit’s charter of demands would automatically change, he added.
Meanwhile, after lying low for two-and-a-half years since Sarma donned the CM’s mantle, the ULFA’s anti-talks faction stepped up its activities. It triggered three low-intensity blasts in upper Assam. Nobody was killed or injured but the explosions managed to shake up the establishment.
GUNS AND ROSES