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Northeast Echoes Ulfa's subversive politics PATRICIA MUKHIM File picture of members of the Peoples' Consultative Group (PCG) at LGB International Airport, Guwahati, en route to Delhi for talks with the Centre At last Mamoni Raisom Goswami has conceded defeat. She realises the futility of nurturing a hopeless idealism. Her Ulfa boys have qualified into hardcore terrorists for whom the act of terror has become an end in itself. Latest media reports that Ulfa supremo Paresh Barua is a regular visitor to Pakistan and an honoured guest of Bangladesh, residing in the affluent environs of that country, should, hopefully, urge the Assamese to discard their blinkers about the outfit's chimerical ideology. One was never really quite so hopeful that anything would come out of the Peoples' Consultative Group (PCG). This body became a front, which Ulfa used to the maximum to take the heat off itself, to facilitate its regrouping following the Bhutan offensive. Hence the PCG's denouement was inevitable. What is surprising is that civil society never once questioned the legitimacy of the PCG, being constituted as it was by the Ulfa. A body trying to negotiate peace should have comprised an independent body of citizens with a track record of credibility and equi-distance from both the Ulfa and the state. The PCG was by definition a misnomer because it did not have the courage of conviction to publicly denounce the Ulfa's acts of terror. On the contrary, each time there was an alleged security overdrive, the PCG was, perhaps, directed by the outfit to publicly condemn the excesses. This was all too apparent. The Ulfa way Terrorist groups have always tried to arm-twist civil society organisations. So the PCG, too, must have been arm-twisted, several times over, to say it the Ulfa way. In the absence of any dissent about the function of the PCG, the body assumed a role bigger than itself. This role was that of an Ulfa advocate, defending its stance and riling at the government, the security forces and the state police, but never once reproachful of their client despite the outfit's repeated attacks on defenceless citizens. Except for the Dhemaji misadventure where local residents lost their lives and predictably the civil society raised a banner of protest, in recent times the Ulfa targets have been largely non-Assamese. Bihari labourers and other Indians, children included, have been mercilessly blown to smithereens. Naturally, these citizens are now living in a state of paranoia because the Gogoi government has admittedly failed to contain terror. Migration of Bihari labourers to safer zones is predicted. But in a booming economy, infrastructure creation does require its crop of manual labourers. Who will replace the Biharis? Your guess is as good as mine. More Bangladeshi labourers will cross over to feed the humungous construction and hospitality industries that have become the sine-qua-non of Guwahati. And while the very articulate and ostensibly deeply offended Assamese rant and rave about influx or illegal migration and arm-chair intellectuals cite their own statistics about the number of immigrants present and voting in the state, the Ulfa will continue to create space for their rightful existence. It is the least that Paresh Barua and his associates can do to repay the hospitality they enjoy in Bangladesh. One even wonders whether Assam still features on their mental and emotional radar as their homeland. Does one bleed his homeland so brutally and relentlessly both in terms of blood spilt and money extorted? Struggles for self-determination across the globe are defined by the active involvement of common people who believe in the cause. As long as the movement is guided by voices from the ground it usually moves on the right track. In such cases there is usually no need to impose any taxes on citizens. They will themselves pledge their financial, moral and emotional support. Such support can only be equated with that of citizens cheering their soldiers when the country is at war. Analyse the Ulfa struggle. Self-determination tops their agenda. Has the outfit ever sought the wise counsel of the people of the state, leave alone intellectuals who could give a sense of direction to the movement? We may be critical of the Naga cause but the fact remains that it does carry some semblance of peoples' participation. Whatever be the impediments to the Naga talks, the ideologues are very clear in their minds that they need to carry the people along in order to ensure their constant support and also to legitimise their own actions, for the greater mission of achieving Naga sovereignty. Has the Ulfa ever indicated that it needs the mandate of the Assamese people and the reiteration of that mandate every now and again? Unfair `tax' Things are going horribly wrong in Assam today. Non-Assamese residents have been threatened with a tax for living and working in the state. Since greed is not known to have a ceiling, it is only a matter of time before the Assamese, too, will be taxed. You do not need too much grey matter to figure this out. Such arbitrary acts have been amply demonstrated by the militants of Meghalaya who began their tryst with terror by first fleecing non-tribals. Until then the tribes remained happily unconcerned. It was only when Khasis and Garos became targets that dissent too became more palpable. This selective, selfish reaction extracts a heavy price. We are a pluralistic, multi-cultural society. Remaining silent when some members of that society are bled is a crime. One is, therefore, intrigued by the stunning silence of the Assamese regarding the Ulfa diktat to the non-Assamese. This forces the assumption that civil society has a sort of incestuous, inexplicable relationship with the Ulfa which compels it to remain insouciant despite clear signals that ultimately they will themselves become targets. Stark reality It is time for the people of Assam to come to grips with reality. If terror grips the state there is little that security forces can do to help. They are as vulnerable to bombs and bullets as the man on the street is. The unfortunate part is that state violence will only heighten with the upsurge of Ulfa attacks on civilian targets. Since state forces will be shooting in the dark, their bullets will obviously hit unintended targets. This will be followed by public recriminations. That is exactly what the Ulfa loves. The vicious cycle of terror, intimidation and extortion will continue. Now that the Ulfa is allegedly employing Bangladeshi youth to throw bombs and grenades at select targets, whatever illusions the Assamese had about their nationalistic heroes should actually dissipate. With growing evidence that Ulfa is also creating space for jehadis of all shades to carry out their subversive activities, one can only imagine what a deadly ritual in blood this will turn out to be. A silent, complacent civil society is an undefined enemy of peace. If terror has survived so long it is public apathy that allowed its survival. Intermittent protests when a bomb blast kills a few people do not actually constitute an intelligent civil society response. Complacency, they say, is the devil's drug. It produces fatty degeneration of a people. What has exacerbated the problems in Assam is a faltering and out-of-form political leadership whose incompetence is an established fact. Assam needs a new breed of political leaders who have their own following at the grassroots level and the dynamism to provide governance. Obviously such young leadership will not need to use insurgents to garner votes for them and, thereafter, remain obliged to allow free operating space. The saddest thing that could have happened to Assam is that the incompetent, bumbling leadership was given a second tenure due to complete bankruptcy of political leadership in the state. What more can one say when civilised assertions are totally absent? The Centre is not the villain of the piece. Silence and apathy are.
