It was the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) that signed a tripartite Memorandum of Settlement pact with the union government and Assam government on December 29, 2023. On that day, the settlement agreement signatories were ULFA representative, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma and union home minster, Amit Shah. Specifically, ULFA’s Paresh Baruah is not part of this agreement!
A sixteen member delegation of ULFA headed by Arabinda Rajkhowa actually signed the settlement agreement with the government. Questions that are being raised are, is the union government, dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) playing a new political game in the state through this agreement? Several local commentators and community leaders are not impressed, specifically stating that this latest development will not benefit Assam.
Leader of opposition of Assam Assembly and Congress MLA and three-time MLA from Nazira constituency in the statee, Debabrata Saikia says, “I don’t think Assam got anything special with this pact. And if ULFA declared war against the Nation and the Central Force to get this, they were wrong.”
Specifically, Saikia stated that that the issue of six communities ST status has not been resolved. The agreement didn’t find a place for the implementation of clause 6 of Assam Accord and since the Assam government has failed to fulfil their responsibilities, they are tom-tomming this “accord.”
Meanwhile, however, the chief minister, Himanta Biswas Sarma hailed the signing of the Memorandum of Settlement as a “Historic Day for Assam.”
Significantly, it must be noted that since the BJP government came to Power in Assam (2016), cases of exclusion from the NRC, Passport Act cases and Assam Border Police’s issuing “suspected foreigner notices” have escalated issued at a rapid pace. To the extent that a newly constructed, permanent detention centre (transit camp) has also been opened in the state at Matia in Goalpara District. Over 19,00,000 persons have excluded from NRC on August 31, 2019 four years ago. Yet, to date, rejection slips that contain reasons for exclusion have not been issued, keeping the fate of over 1.9 million persons, actually mostly Indians, hanging in the balance. Instead of alleviation this suffering, several BJP leaders and ministers are on record stating that they want a fresh NRC based on the 1951 records (the 1951 exercise, a socio-economic survey was not even conducted in all districts). Irresponsibly demanding “re-verification” of the rejections, they just aim to make more fragile and uncertain the existence of the most marginalised in Assam, especially the state’s religious and linguistic minorities.
The issue of ‘reservation’ as flagged in this agreement, is being seen as an attempt to create a false –not justified –classification and division of citizens. Will the constitutional rights of a large section of people of Assam be taken away in the name of reservation?
Interestingly, chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma made this statement to a reporter, “The point of agreement is that delimitation was carried out in Assam recently, and out of 126, we have secured 97 seats for the indigenous people. So this principle will continue even in the next delimitation. The insecurity that was there among the people politically has been resolved. Even for other issues, a solution has been put in the accord itself.”
He added, “Besides, there is a demand across Assam for a revised NRC because in the last NRC, several factors contributed to the government not doing it properly. Now, a review petition is pending before the Supreme Court (SC). As the matter is before the apex court, this issue is not mentioned (in the agreement) except to say that after the SC gives its verdict, the union government will take the matter afresh. So, while there is a reference to NRC, the issue is not conclusive as the matter is pending in the SC,”
We are happy to see the historic tripartite peace pact signed amongst ULFA, GOI and the Govt of Assam. This will anchor peace in the region and give a big boost to foreign investors like Singapore to move into the Northeast. – HC Wong @PMOIndia @CMOfficeAssam @HMOIndia https://t.co/u0QuyPRXvH
— Singapore in India (@SGinIndia) December 30, 2023
Besides, the latest agreement is just another addition to a litany of previous ‘historic’ agreements signed with militant groups in the region. Only time will tell whether this ‘historic’ accord stands out from others, which turned out to be hollow.
On December 29, signing the agreement with the Arabinda Rajkhowa faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in New Delhi, the Union home minister Amit Shah quite with his usual bombastic delivery, termed this too as ‘historic’.
Within Assam, since the 1990s, one has seen three ‘peace accords’ in the ‘Bodoland’ area itself, signed with various Union governments held by the two national parties – the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The last one, signed with the Narendra Modi government in 2020, was also termed ‘historic’ by Shah. However, the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) president Dipen Boro then stated in Kokrajhar on December 29 that the agreement has not been “implemented in letter and spirit by the state and central (Modi) government” and if not done soon, the outfit vows to start a ‘democratic movement’. Hence the same regime’s claim that the 2020 agreement was indeed ‘historic’ has already been called into question.
Who will benefit from the ‘peace accord’
One is the Rajkhowa faction of ULFA. Since 2008, its cadres have been waiting in designated camps (set up by the government) for their leaders to pull off an ‘honourable’ agreement with the Union. This would ensure not just their livelihood but some cohesion back into society.
With any resolution delayed, several had begun looking for employment on their own, while some others had gone back to the jungles to join the anti-talks faction of ULFA run by Paresh Barua from Myanmar. These cadres are the sons and daughters of Assamese peasants.
Post the Modi government’s taking over the helm in New Delhi in 2014, the interlocutor appointed by the Manmohan Singh government to carry forward the talks with the Rajkhowa faction had changed. It meant the talks had to begin afresh.
Over time, that new interlocutor was shifted out too. These changes have certainly slowed down the process. So much so that the initial euphoria within the Assamese public and the intellectuals about the likelihood of the ‘historic’ Assam Accord (no more historic by then) to be replaced by another ‘historic’ pact through the Rajkhowa faction of ULFA began to lose steam. In other words, the December 29 agreement with New Delhi has come at a time when it’s worth has been seen to be already diminished. Nobody in Assam expected it to be truly ‘historic’.
This delay is also seen as part of a strategy to tire out those on the other side of the table since it ends up benefitting the Centre. The political timing of the signing of this ‘settlement’, on the eve of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is crucial since several of the parliamentary seats are in upper Assam where the ULFA still holds sway. With the east and the south being a problem region for the BJP, the party needs to clock victories where it can and it will surely use this ‘accord’ to project itself with the majority Assamese community, indeed pro-Khilonjia (indigenous). The BJP is, therefore, more a direct beneficiary of this ‘historic’ agreement rather than the people of Assam.
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