GUWAHATI: The resurgence of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) has come as a surprise to political observers in the state. They are apprehensive that the outfit may again become the state government’s bugbear. ULFA’s return to the center stage of militancy with the killing of several policemen and a senior tea planter (besides collection of “tax” from businessmen) in the last three months, has come at a time when it was being widely held that the outfit was dying a slow death in Mr.Hiteswar Saikia’s constricting grip.

Two Army operations, between 1990 and 1991 resulted in the surrender of over 3,500 ULFA activists. Those who remained underground lost public support they had failed to offer resistance to the Army, thereby disappointing their supporters.

That ULFA activists would re- vive themselves and make daring attacks on police stations state- wide was beyond the wildest dreams of the government. In fact, so optimistic was Mr.Sarikia that he declared that he would bring the outlawed group to the negotiating table in three months’ time. But his optimism faded away as ULFA’s gun crackled. Instead, he asked the Center to rush 90 companies of paramilitary forces. In reality, even when ULFA’s edifice had collapsed, their secessionist ideologues stayed buoy- ant. They found that their rural support-base was nearly intact. A mix of elderly and young intellectuals, these radical ideologues continued to mobilize people and motivate them. They glorified ULFA’s “armed struggle” and explained away its retreat as tactical.

Their mission succeeded. This was evident when Prabhat Saikia, district “commander” of ULFA. was killed by the police in December. Streams of mourners converted his nondescript house in Nagaon into a virtual pilgrimage center. The refusal of the police to hand over the body to the family till the Gauhati High Court intervened only helped the secessionists’ cause.

In the midst of all this, came the warning by the intelligence agencies that ULFA was readying it- self with conscription and stock- piling of arms. ULFA activists soon struck a serious blow to the police morale by attacking a police station in Nagaon and killing four policemen. After a few more killings of policemen and Congress leaders, they killed a popular tea planter, Mr.Rameshwar Singh in Tinsukhia, this week, sending shockwaves through the industry.

Article extracted from this publication >> March 4, 1994