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28 years ago, on a foggy, foggy November night, the sleepy village of Lakhipathar awoke to the sound of mortars and automatic weapons. About 530 kilometers east of Guwahati and located in the middle of dense tropical forests near Digboi, in Upper Assam, Lakhipathar was the scene of a fierce battle between the army and about 300 guerrillas of the Unified Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) who then melted in the dark. The incident was followed by long atrocities committed by the army in neighboring villages, including rape, some of which have been documented but largely unreported. This sparked a surge of sympathy for the banned formation that culminated in the mid-1990s before yielding to a dwindling medium that remained at very low until very recently.
But now, times are changing in Assam and there are warning signs. "Young people are now going out en mbade from all over Assam to join the ULFA. And as ULFA swears by guerrilla style and not by open position war, even 300 well trained fighters can prove to be a very effective force, "said Prabal Neog, who joined the banned formation there. is 31 years old and has also led the dreaded 28th Battalion. before being stopped.
Prabal Neong, who had led the 28th Battalion of ULFA. Image provided by Sanjib Kr Baruah.
Information gathered from various sources, including the common people, security forces, intelligence agencies and pro-talk executives of the ULFA, indicate that a large number of young people ( in one case, a clbad 9 girl) from the other side of Assam, they went to the jungle, where Paresh Baruah leads hundreds of his armed fighters, who operate in camps of 39 training located along the borderless border between China and Myanmar. Baruah remains firm in his request for a sovereign Assam.
A "Bangladeshi" Assamese hip-hop song, which talks about taking up arms to protect Assamese identity and culture, has been a hot topic on social media for a day. And in the villages and the cities, one speaks in low voice. The members of the ULFA are no longer called " ugroponthis " but " lora bur " (our boys).
Paresh Baruah in a camp in Myanmar (fourth from the left in the front row, sitting). Image: Sanjib Kr Baruah
The evolution of mentalities is also reflected on reading tastes. The Northeast Book Fair in Guwahati, which ended last month, has seen an unprecedented sale of books by writers such as the late journalist Parag Kumar Das and the famous leftist thinker Hiren Gohain or works policies of Mao Tse-tung. "Most of Das's reprinted books such as Fenla Sanglot, Swadhin Axomor Orthonitee (Independent Assam Economics) are out of print," says Ractim Thakuria, Barna Books' salesman-distributor, who set out place a booth at the fair. Sanglot Fenla tells in all honesty why the Assamese took up arms after all the democratic demonstrations gave no results. The title Swadhin Axomor Orthonitee is self-explanatory.
Das, a former student of the prestigious St Stephen's College and the Delhi School of Economics of Delhi University, became a staunch supporter of ULFA before being shot. in 1996.
But what is new this time is that the new recruits are not unemployed people hit by poverty, but well educated and well-off young people, including engineers already employed (including at least one software engineer), doctors and, according to unverified reports, at least two lawyers. Although the figures are not definitive, different sources number them to hundreds
The threat to Assamese identity, language and culture is at the heart of the problem. Antu Choudang, once a well-feared demolition expert at ULFA, says: "The Assam is forced to host lakhs of illegal aliens. For India, the citizenship deadline is 1951, but for Assam, it is 1971. Clause 6 of the Assam Agreement promised constitutional guarantees, but nothing happened. was given even after 33 years. Our young people are losing confidence in the democratic process.
Antu Choudang, one of the dreaded demolition experts of ULFA. Image provided by Sanjib Kr Baruah.
"Not content with that, out of nowhere, the 2016 Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is imposed on us. They do not understand that the Assamese nation is not based on religion. Our great saint Sankardeb of Vaishnava insisted on a philosophy of pure devotion without distinction of religion, caste or belief. This philosophy is systematically demolished and a fundamentalist Hindu character is transmitted. We refuse to be part of that, "said the 51-year-old.
The general atmosphere in the villages is a mixture of challenge and aggression. "No government, in the state or in the center, has been sincere with the Assamese until now. Until now, there have been only betrayals and promises. The issue of illegal immigration and the bill on the amendment of citizenship only made us understand that it is useless. So we will do what we want and in our own way, "says a villager from Lakhipathar asking to remain anonymous.
Mao said:" Political power is born from the barrel of a gun. "Obviously, a tribe is growing
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