Guwahati: The United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) or ULFA-I, a banned insurgent group in Assam, has seen an uptick in recruitments over the past several months, ThePrint has learnt.
According to highly placed sources in the Assam Police, in the past eight months, over 40 young men and women are known to have joined the group. In comparison, the total recruitment between 2017 and 2019 was 70 people.
Police officials, as well as Anup Chetia, general secretary of a pro-talks faction of the ULFA, told ThePrint that a number of factors could be driving this rise in recruitment, including possible peace talks and unemployment.
“During Covid, there was no joining because of the lockdown. But after that, there was a big change. It is a matter of concern, but it is not alarming,” Additional Director General of Police (Special Branch) Hiren Nath told ThePrint. “It is likely that most of them will return in the next year or so. Of the 70-odd people who had been recruited by the rebel group between 2017 to 2019, 49 ended up returning.”
ULFA-I, headed by Paresh Baruah, is a faction of the original ULFA, whose declared goal was secession of Assam from India. It has been accused of unleashing a wave of violence in the Northeastern state, including abductions, killings and illegal activities. At the root of its politics is the anti-immigration sentiment, a burning issue in Assam.
According to police estimates, ULFA-I has around 200 cadres, including the 40-odd recruits from the last few months. Chetia, however, said that the actual figure is likely to be higher.
Taking note of the spate of recruitments, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had told reporters Wednesday that “some youth joining the ULFA for the past two/three months has come to light”.
“We keep in touch with the parents of such young people and make them realise that their wards have not chosen the right path. Even after that, some youth have joined the ULFA. Such incidents worry us,” Sarma said. He, however, had denied links between the recruitments and the peace process.
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Origins of the ULFA
Formed in 1979, the ULFA arose from an anti-immigrant movement in Assam that was spurred by an inflow of migrants from Bangladesh following the 1971 war that led to that country’s liberation from Pakistan.
The group was primarily founded by student leaders Golap Baruah alias Anup Chetia, Samiran Gogoi alias Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain and Bhimakanta Buragohain. Paresh Baruah led its military wing, while Arabinda Rajkhowa headed the political unit.
In 2011, the ULFA splintered into two factions — one led by Rajkhowa and another by Paresh Baruah — as the latter decided against talks and negotiations with the central government. Paresh Baruah’s group, the ULFA-ATF (anti-talks faction), was rebranded as ULFA-I in 2013.
Ever since he became CM last May, Sarma has repeatedly appealed to the group to come forward for peace talks.
‘Lack of jobs, benefits of surrender’
A high-ranking police officer who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint that “Paresh Baruah hasn’t called for boycotting of peace talks when it was broached for a third consecutive time”. “There is a congenial atmosphere now, and the common public isn’t as terrified of the group,” the officer said.
“Some uninformed people think that if they go with Paresh Baruah, they will be able to get jobs, contracts. In the past also, people got these kinds of benefits from surrendering,” the police officer said.
According to the central government’s policy, surrendered insurgents are paid a monthly stipend of a maximum of Rs 3,500 for 36 months, and an immediate grant of Rs 1.5 lakh in the form of a fixed deposit for a period of three years. They are also given incentive for surrendering weapons.
Asked if the group might be looking to use the recruitment issue to gain an upper hand in peace talks, Chetia said “it is likely that ahead of the possible peace talks, the group is looking to increase its strength to over 1,000”.
“People are also looking to join hoping to get something in the rehabilitation process… No development is happening, because of this, there is unemployment and youth are getting frustrated. What will they do? They are not getting jobs,” he added.
New recruits
The new recruits, police officers said, mainly belong to parts of Upper Assam like Tinsukia and Dibrugarh. They further said that of the 40-odd people recruited in the past year, 20 were young people who had been unsuccessful in exams for various police and government jobs.
Last week, 29-year-old Janardhan Gogoi, vice-president of the Congress youth wing at Sadiya in Upper Assam, wrote a Facebook post addressed to his pregnant wife, informing her of his decision to join ULFA-I.
“I couldn’t wait to see our own people being destroyed since they are helpless in their own state. I couldn’t keep my hands still after observing the misery of my own people, who have been victims of lies and manipulation for years,” Gogoi, whose parents are teachers, wrote in the post.
Gogoi used to work in the social media department of the Congress state unit.
“He was talented and very disciplined. Recently, he was also lauded for his work in the party,” said Sibnath Chetia, an office-bearer of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, who was Gogoi’s colleague.
Asked if there had been any prior indication that Gogoi would take this step, Sibnath said, “not at all, barring a few posts on Facebook in which he got sentimental about the Assamese cause”.
The unnamed police officer quoted earlier said cases like Gogoi’s are one-offs, and a majority of recruits tend to be “of poor social standing”.
Over the past few months, local newspapers have intermittently carried reports of youth who have gone missing being suspected of having joined the rebel outfit.
In February, two girls from Guwahati, Saraswati Das and Rumi Deka, were suspected to have joined ULFA-I after they went missing. Paresh Baruah later clarified that he was only aware of one female recruit with the last name Das.
More recently, a 23-year-old man from Pathsala in Lower Assam’s Bajali district, was suspected to have joined the group after he went missing. Earlier this month, Bivarkar Kalita, an athlete who participated in various state and national level competitions, went missing after he along with a friend travelled to Tinsukia.
According to the state government, the group primarily uses social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to “lure” recruits.
“In the past eight months, we have apprehended 39 people who were on their way to joining the group. The police also detected about 180 objectionable social media posts, pulled down 60-odd profiles and identified 110 youth on social media (bearing links to the group),” said ADGP Nath.
The ULFA-I headquarters was reportedly taken over by the Myanmar army recently. As a result of this, the cadres are now operating in small groups, police sources said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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