Guwahati: ‘Aai mur oi (Mother dear)
Aji Bihu r dina (Today, on Bihu)
Monot pore tuloi ghone ghone koi (I remember you many a time)
Aami je aasu hi Mukti Xena hoi (As we stand here as freedom fighters)…’
Brandishing AK assault rifles and donning the traditional Gamusa, cadres of the banned insurgent group United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) or ULFA(I) dance to the beats of a self-composed Bihu song at a training camp in an undisclosed location.
A video of the celebrations, which was uploaded on YouTube Monday, was also released to the media as people across Assam are celebrating the harvest festival of Magh Bihu, or Bhogali Bihu.
The composition based on the outfit’s demand of sovereignty is also an ode to the families of the cadres, living far away and waiting for their sons to return home.
In the lines that follow, the song appeals to the mothers to not feel sad and bless them (cadres) with courage — to come victorious in the fight for ‘independence’.
This is not the first time that the insurgent outfit is seen displaying weapons during Bihu celebrations. “In 2012, I was witness to the Magh Bihu celebration at Taga in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region. Functionaries sang and danced with weapons on their shoulders,” said Rajeev Bhattacharyya, senior journalist and author of ‘ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn’, a book that chronicles the covert history of the separatist organisation.
The nearly 13-minute long video, masked cadres stride into an open field, amid cheers, to light the Meji, made out of firewood fetched from the forest.
The ritual of burning Meji is a significant tradition and deeply emotional — it is a way for people to give thanks for a bountiful harvest, symbolising the end of the old agricultural cycle and the beginning of a new one.
Former Assam DGP, novelist and poet Harekrishna Deka, however, asserted that Bihu and guns “cannot blend”.
“It is a well-made video, but Bihu and Banduk cannot blend. By circulating the video, the outfit seems to send a message that the cadres are in good spirits, that they are determined to carry forward their mission, and their camps are secure. It may have been aimed at the Assamese youths to get attracted to the organisation, and to send a message to the government that ULFA can’t be demoralised against their demand of sovereignty,” he told ThePrint.
Echoing his thoughts, a retired Army colonel said the video looked like “drama and playacting”.
“People of Assam are unlikely to fall for their propaganda video,” he said.
“How many guys can the outfit muster now to win the ‘freedom’ of Assam? I doubt if they have even 50-75 guys in the camp. They did not last very long in 1991-92 at full strength of more than 1,000 cadres.”
ULFA(I) broke away from the ULFA in 2012, when the parent outfit opted for talks with the central government. While the pro-talks faction of the ULFA signed a tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) with the central and Assam governments in New Delhi last year, the ULFA(I) faction led by its commander-in-chief, Paresh Baruah, continues to fight for sovereignty.
In a telephonic conversation with ThePrint on 1 January, Baruah told this correspondent that “no jaati or community can relinquish their historical rights in the name of development”.
Also Read: ‘Paresh Baruah must know about changing realities of Assam’ — Himanta reaches out to ULFA (I) chief
‘Revolution, not a two-day emotion’
As the video plays on, it captures the daily activities of the cadres — some play volleyball, while others pick fresh produce from gardens. To mark the occasion of Bihu, the cadres make til pithas (sesame rice cakes) as they deftly pound the rice in Khundona (traditional pounders).
There are three ULFA(I) camps presently active under their Eastern Command — the Arakan Gut or 779, led by Arunoday Dahotia, the Nilgiri Gut or Maimong under Michael Deka Phukan, and the Everest or Hoyat camp under Nayan Medhi.
Demolished in 2019, the Taga camp is reportedly being revamped. The Myanmar Army withdrew its presence in Taga in 2022, allowing the cadres to reoccupy that zone in the Hukawng Valley.
Hailing the Assamese community to come together and not to forget their roots, the Bihu song ends with the line of ‘Biplob nohoi jaana dudinor abeg (Revolution is not a two-day emotion)’
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: ‘A deal with a defanged tiger’? ULFA’s history & how peace pact could impact Paresh Baruah faction