ULFA and Centre Hit Pause on Talks, Stall

Progress on Peace in Assam

ULFA leader Anup Chetia discusses the process of updating the National Register of Citizens,
the Assam Accords, progress in talks with the Centre and more.

Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty and Rajeev Bhattacharyya

05/Oct/2016

https://thewire.in/politics/ulfa-and-centre-hit-pause-on-talks-stall-progress-on-peace-in-
assam

Guwahati: The talks between the central government and the the United Liberation Front of
Asom (ULFA) has been long drawn, meeting many waves of ups and downs with successive
central dispensations. The present round of talks gained pace after the outfit’s chairman,
Arabindo Rajkhowa, was apprehended by Indian security forces in 2009. In April 2010, an
umbrella group of the state’s civil society organisations that called itself Sanmilita Jatiya
Abhivartan (SJA) held its first convention in the Machkhowa area of Guwahati to facilitate talks
between the outfit and the Centre to resolve the conflict in the state. The SJA put together a
charter of demands for the ULFA to take up with the Centre.

Since 2009, Rajkhowa has been joined by more leaders of the outfit even though one of the
outfit’s tallest leaders, Paresh Barua, has expressed his decision to stay away from it and
thereafter formed ULFA (Independent).

One of the leaders who joined the talks is the ULFA’s general secretary Anup Chetia, who was
extradited to India in November from Bangladesh after 19 years of incarceration. Chetia was
arrested by the Bangladesh police in 1997 on charges of cross-border intrusion, carrying fake
passports and keeping foreign currencies.

In an interview to The Wire, Chetia, however, said, “The talks have been kept on hold now.” He
said, “It is because the Centre wants to wait for the Supreme Court verdict on the cut-off year for
citizenship of people in Assam.” A number of petitions have been filed in the apex court seeking
reversal of the cut-off year from 1971 as per the Assam Accord to 1951, the year that applies to
rest of India. The petitions have been referred to a five-member bench of the apex court.

Excerpts:

What is the status of ULFA’s talks with the Centre?

The final draft of demands from our side is not fully ready yet. We are still mulling over
solutions to some key issues. Our last meeting with P.C. Haldar was in June this year, after the
new state government was formed. We were supposed to meet him again but the talks have been
kept on hold for now keeping in mind the Supreme Court’s impending judgment on the bunch of
petitions (filed by many individuals and civil society organisations) seeking 1951 as the cut-off
year for citizenship of people residing in Assam against what it is now – 1971 as per the Assam
Accord. The hearing by the five-member bench is in the final stages.

Many in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) strongly feel that it is better to wait for the SC
judgment and take the talks from thereon. Since this is an opportunity we (ULFA) may not get
again to settle issues with the Centre, we also feel that we should wait for the judgment.

What will happen to the Assam Accord then?

Yes, it is an issue as the accord has the cut-off year of 1971; we will have to then see in such a
scenario, what will happen to the accord.

Do you think P.C. Haldar is a good choice as the Centre’s interlocutor for the talks?

P.C. Haldar comes across as someone who really wants to do something for the people of Assam.
He studies various issues concerning the state on his own. I think his presence will make a
difference to the talks.

The NSCN (I-M) or National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) has demanded
certain symbols of sovereignty, such as the demand for a separate flag, constitution and
passport in their negotiations with the Centre. Though ULFA also fought for Assam’s
sovereignty, it has not put out any such demands. Did ULFA’s bargaining power weaken
with the Centre because the leaders were in detention?

The initial charter of demands put together by SJA should have given more thought on those
lines. It is true that coming to the negotiating table at a weak moment is not the same as
otherwise. In fact, there is a huge difference. The NSCN (I-M) could demand those things
because they were in a strong position. We could have also done it, we could have brought
everyone together, as one team, one voice. Our leadership ignored those who were in a strong
position. This is our last chance (to talk peace with the Centre). So, we are now trying to form
district committees so that we come across as a united voice. This is important because ULFA
has lost the confidence of Assamese people lately, many laugh at us now, make fun of us, hate us
like untouchables. This happened because of deliberate efforts by various forces. Many bomb
blasts that took place in Assam and killed many Assamese people were not done by ULFA, some
were even done by the government and other forces. Yet people were made to believe that they
were done by ULFA to discredit it. Media also spread such rumours. When I was in a jail in
Bangladesh, I heard a BBC correspondent from the region claim that those blasts were done by
ULFA. On asked why did then the outfit issued denial, he said it was because it has been
criticised it for killing Assamese people. Before the serial blasts in Assam, many bomb blasts,
like the one in Barpeta Road, Panbazar area of Guwahati, were not done by ULFA but the media
accused it of engineering them. Even though the serial blasts were done by National Democratic
Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the media was quick to point fingers at ULFA.Those accusations led
to discredit ULFA. So we feel, this time we have to be careful and deliver results to the people.
In order to create that one voice, will there be any effort by this faction of ULFA to bring
ULFA (Independent) commander-in-chief Paresh Barua to the table?

I don’t think such a move will be made now. The decision to exclude him was taken before I
came out of jail and joined the talks.

The ULFA cadres on ceasefire have been living in camps for the last eight years. They are a
demoralised lot due to the lack of any steps to rehabilitate them. The monthly stipend from
the government is a paltry Rs 3,000, none have any steady means of livelihood, the stipend
is also irregular. Will the ULFA leadership take any step in this regard?

It is an important issue; the boys are increasingly leaving the camps out of frustration; whoever
have land are going back home for farming, etc. to sustain the families they created in the last
eight years. Nobody (pro-talks leaders) thought of raising this issue with the government before I
joined the talks. I met the state chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal twice so far on the same
issue. People may ask why is he going alone to meet the chief minister but someone has to raise
the issue.

I have urged the government to increase their monthly stipend from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 and
also give a plot of land to set up an office of Axom Jatiyo Nyas (Assam National Trust). In my
last meeting with Sonowal (in early August), he said he raised my demand about hiking the
cadres’ stipend with the MHA and state officials. He said we would have difficulty raising it to
Rs 10,000 per month but we will certainly raise it soon, we have taken a decision on this.
Sonowal said we had a series of meetings about it and it will include not just the ULFA cadre but
also others, including the NDFB cadre, too. There are roughly 3,000 cadres in total, he said.

The central government is amending the Citizenship Act to facilitate Hindu refugees from
Bangladesh and other countries to get Indian citizenship. Many in Assam are strongly
opposed to it as they feel many undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh will become
permanent residents of Assam then. The state government is agreeable to the Centre’s
decision stating that the ‘burden’ will be shared by the entire country. What is your
opinion?

If such a thing happens, the Centre will never take them away from Assam. I don’t think the state
government will have any say in the matter. Just recently, newspapers have quoted BJP president
Amit Shah as saying that the state government would have to do what we asked it to do. So the
state government is not likely to have any independent thinking there.

Also, as far as Hindu Bangladeshis are concerned, at least one member from each family is
already living in Assam. Earning a livelihood is somewhat easier in Bangladesh now than in
Assam. So if a family has three brothers, two are living in Bangladesh and one in Assam.
However, all the three brothers will have their names in the voters’ list in the state.

The process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is in its final stages. Has
ULFA thought about what the government should do with those declared foreigners by the
NRC? Also, what will happen to the NRC update results if the cut-off date becomes 1951?
Yes, many things will have to be relooked if 1951 really becomes the cut-off year. As far as the
NRC update results are concerned, the SJA didn’t engage specifically on it. Some have been
suggesting issuing work permits to such individuals. If that happens, we will actually be at a loss.
If work permits are granted, they will never leave Assam. If we agree to it, it will mean we have
accepted them.

It is also being said that those people who can get legal papers from Bangladesh should be
granted such permits. But I ask, how many will go back to Bangladesh to get such papers? Also,
why would Bangladesh give it to them so openly?

What, according to you, were the reasons for the BJP’s win in the last assembly elections in
Assam?

They won on the issue of sub-nationalism. It is the weakness of the indigenous people of the
state, both in the rural and urban areas. Also, people wanted a change from 15 years of Congress
rule; there was no alternative, that is why the BJP won. BJP didn’t win because people of Assam
have begun supporting Hindutva. You may see celebration of rituals like raksha bandhan, bol
bom, etc. in some urban pockets but people in our villages don’t support them. I myself refuse to
wear rakhi or even play Holi. These are not our rituals.

What is ULFA’s stand on granting Scheduled Tribe status to the six communities? The
centre has agreed in principle but some groups are agitating against it.

It seems like the central government has a role in instigating those protests. We have spoken to
many leaders of different communities on the issue of granting ST status to the Tai Ahoms,
Moran, Motok, Sutiya, Koch Rajbonshis and the tea garden community. Organisations like the
All Bodo Students Organisation have no problem about giving ST status to the communities
living in Upper Assam. They are not very comfortable, though, about including the Koch
Rajbonshis in the list as they fear that they might lose their reserved seats to the community
living in the Bodo Territorial Council areas. However, the Bodo leaders are clearly opposed to
granting ST status to the tea garden community. They are also not agreeable to the term ‘Adivasi’
being used by the community to claim the status. They argue that if they are the Adivasis of
Assam then who are we?

Even though some sub-groups of the tea garden community have been included in the ST list in
other parts of India, not all are. So, if the Centre offers the same model to the tea garden
community in Assam too, the Bodo leaders might agree. However, there is no unity among
various organisations of the tea garden community. There is no one voice there. Before the state
assembly elections in April, the Centre played politics with the community. The young leaders
were approached to get their votes (for the BJP) but the mother organisations were ignored. So
there is a division among the community.

The committee formed by the Centre before the Assam elections to look into the matter (to grant
ST status to the six communities) has not submitted its report yet. Let’s see what it says. P.C.
Haldar is also a member of that committee. ULFA supports granting ST status to all these
communities as we feel we will be able to save our land by doing so.
Besides this, are there any other measures being thought of to keep the land with the
indigenous people?

Our concern is also how to save our farm land in the villages, as most of the urban land is gone
by now. After a lot of deliberation, a mechanism has been thought of but I sometimes doubt its
efficacy in a corrupt administrative system. As per it, a person would need a certificate from the
office of the district commissioner to be a farmer. He/she should be a farmer for at least five
years prior to getting the certificate. But we also know that the district collector himself will not
check the paper work and other evidences, it will be done at the clerical level. In a corrupt
system, anyone can bribe an official and get such a certificate. We need to discuss the issue a lot
more to arrive at a foolproof solution. We need more suggestions on it. The document that the
nine-member committee has put together has also sought a judicial commission to find out how
much land of the state, such as the forest areas and grazing reserves, have been occupied since
independence.

The clauses of the Assam Accord are yet to be fully implemented. Keeping that in mind,
how much thought has been put by the ULFA leadership and the SJA to bring in a
mechanism for early implementation of the clauses of the accord it will sign with the
Centre?

We are concerned about it. Some of our well wishers are thinking that we are not bothered about
it once the pact is signed. But I don’t agree, I will be worried about early and proper
implementation of it. I feel it should be our responsibility, we will have to oversee it and for that
we need to be in a strong position. How has NSCN (I-M) been able to demand so much from the
Centre? It is because it is in a strong position. We need to be in such a position to implement the
clauses of the pact but our leadership is not giving the necessary importance to whatever is still
strong on our side.

From the recent actions claimed by ULFA-Swadhin, will it be right to deduce that there is
resurgence of the outfit? Do you think it wil gain the support of the Assamese public?

Yes it seems to be getting active, causing some blasts, etc. lately. It also kidnapped the son of a
BJP worker (he was later released) in Upper Assam recently. Paresh admitted his kidnap by
ULFA- Swadhin but denied asking one crore ransom for his release as claimed by the family.
People of Assam may not support killings and kidnappings but I can tell you for sure that most
feel that there should be some power to safeguard their interests against the non-Assamese. The
sense of sub-nationalism is extremely strong in the indigenous people of Assam. They feel the
outsiders should fear, should bow, to some power.

India government presently has very good bilateral relations with the government of
Bangladesh. The Supreme Court, in a 2014 directive, had asked the government to enter
into “necessary discussions” with Bangladesh to streamline the process of deportation. Do
you think it will make such efforts now?

I don’t think so. In fact, I feel the Centre’s Bangladesh policy is faulty. It is just a matter of time
before it is proven unsuccessful. The anti-India sentiment has increased manifold in that country
after the Awami League grabbed power. That party came to power without any contest but India
was quick to recognise it. This is not a government elected by the public of that country. Awami
League has the support of only 39% of people, what about the rest? The majority?

India should have maintained restraint there. But it didn’t. So the anti-India feeling is presently
very strong there. This good relation of India with Bangladesh is with the government of the day,
not with the public of that country. If free and fair elections take place there, the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party will surely be back in power and then a lot of Hindu Bangladeshis, or what they
say Maloung, will be attacked. They will be the soft target. This will happen only because of the
wrong policies of the central government. So in such a scenario, more Hindus from Bangladesh
will come to India seeking refuge. Instead of deporting people, we will have to take in people.
The government of India’s Bangladesh policy is suicidal, in my opinion.