Introspection time for ULFA

THE warning was loud and clear. Yet, in their own wisdom the ULFA leadership decided to ignore all signals regarding their eroding support base. Instead of trying to convince the people about its ideology, the proscribed organisation relied more on gun power. The banned outfit continued its subversive activities even at a time, when the people of Assam were yearning for peace. Little the organisation realised that it would have to pay heavily for being trigger-happy. During the last two decades, Assam, one of the richest states in the country in terms of natural resources, did not enjoy a single peaceful day. The State, which was one of the most prosperous states in the country before and after Independence, suddenly earned the tag of backwardness. For years, because of unrest in the State, no new investment was made. People started avoiding the State as peace continued to elude that part of the country.

ULFA played its part perfectly to worsen the crisis. Within years of its formation, ULFA, under the influence of the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, became a gang of anti-socials, whose main objective was not sovereignty, but to earn more and more money at the expense of the people of Assam. To fund the lavish lifestyles of its leaders in Dhaka, Bhutan and Bangkok, ULFA virtually looted Assam. Those, who were brave enough to defy the diktat of ULFA, met tragic ends, as the underground outfit never hesitated to use its gun power. The infamous Sanjoy Ghosh episode is the most glaring example of ULFA’s slip from its original ideology. The young social worker, who devoted his life to protect the people of Majuli Island, was brutally killed by the insurgent outfit. Strange is the fact that till today the ULFA could not gather enough courage to admit that it killed the social worker. Rather to hide its involvement in the killing, the organisation sent all kinds of contradictor y signals to confuse the people. Sanjoy’s sin was that he protested against the unholy nexus between the ULFA and some contractors, which virtually swindled crore of rupees from the government treasury in the name of saving the island from erosion. But the brutal killing of Sanjoy gave birth to more Sanjoys in the State. Overtaking the fear of gun, the people of Assam came out openly in favour of peace. The people rejected the boycott call given by ULFA during the last two general elections. They organised bandh against violence. All these steps were indicative enough that ULFA was fast loosing its ground.

The final moments came when people of Assam did not pay any heed to ULFA’s bandh call protesting against Royal Bhutan Army’s (RBA) action against the organisation. For ULFA, which took the advantage of the porous Indo-Bhutan border to continue its subversive activities, the action came as a big shock. It has reduced the striking power of ULFA to a great extend. The ULFA is now paying the price of depending more on gun power rather than people’s  support.

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