First phase of Lok Sabha polls in Assam smooth

April 7 is the foundation day of the rebel group in Assam, the United Liberation front of Asom (ULFA), having been formed on April 7, 1979, and interestingly the Assam Legislative Assembly (ALA), sat for the first time on April 7, 1937. The ULFA was formed with the goal of creating an ‘independent Assam’ through armed struggle, but over the last few years several of its top leaders have been caught both in India and Bangladesh, and are now either in Jail or are out on bail.

It was almost a regular event for the group to issue a bandh call every year on this date, and even if a call was not given, people, particularly those in the rural areas and the outfit’s stronghold, rarely ventured out. This time, however, neither factions of the ULFA (pro and anti-talks) issued calls to the voters for boycott (of the elections) or made any statement against any political party. “This year however no groups have issued any boycott or bandh call, and as a result of this there is a high turnout of voters,” said Sabita Devi, a lawyer and researcher associated with the Guwahati based research group CESPR.

Devi added that even in areas in the districts of Tinsukia, Sibsagar and Dibrugah which used to be stronghold of the outfit, voters have turned out freely to vote. “Sibsagar, where I am from, used to be a stronghold of ULFA and every year on April 7 we were scared to go out, but this year things are lot different and voting is in high number,” said Pankaj Gogoi, a 30 year old businessman from Sibsagar.

The home department when contacted said that the support for ULFA has come down and this has happened, basically, as a result of the arrest of several of its senior leaders over the years, and also as a result of better education. It is also because of exposure of the youth.

Many leaders of the outfit including Chairman Aravinda Rajkhowa, Deputy commander in chief Raju Baruah, and foreign secretary Sashadhar Chowdhury, who were arrested over the past 4-5 years have now entered the peace process with the Indian government.

Meanwhile, in another development, the ULFA (Pro-Talk) faction has expelled its former 'Commander' Hira Sarania for contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Kokrajhar constituency as an independent.

ULFA (Pro-talk) spokesperson, Jiten Dutta, was vocal about the decision. "We have officially expelled Hira Sarania from the outfit for contesting the polls. We asked him not to participate in the poll process but he did not listen, so we decided to expel him from the outfit," he said.

“It has been decided the ULFA will not participate in the election process as long as the prevailing conflict situation is not resolved," Dutta added.