Paresh Baruah, commander-in-chief of ULFA
The Centre would kick off formal dialogue with the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Tuesday after a three-decade-long bloody insurgency. With informal talks already going on between the two sides, a village which is the home to two top, underground leaders of the outfit, however, doubts the fresh impetus to the peace process.
As one descends National Highway No.37, which leads to Kharjan tea estate in Panitola, upper Assam district of Dibrugarh, a bumpy, unmetalled road goes into Jeraigaon, a cluster of small sleepy hamlets. The sound of roaring Sukhois taking off from the nearby Chabua Air Base is the only occasional jarring note in the silent area. But Jeraigaon’s identity doesn’t end there--it is home to Paresh Baruah, commander-in-chief of ULFA, and his cousin Anup Chetia, alias Golap Baruah, general secretary of the outfit. For Jeraigaon, the peace talks have no meaning until the cousins participate.
Baruah and Chetia’s families and friends express the same doubt when asked about the peace dialogue. “Any talk with ULFA to which my brother Golap and my cousin Paresh are not party to will not be effective,” says Suren Baruah, 80, elder brother of Chetia. “Delhi has tried to keep Paresh away from the talks and it is doubtful whether Anup will be repatriated from Bangladesh. The ULFA leadership should have taken more time. Remember it was my brother Anup, who built ULFA’s political base; Paresh single-handedly built the military might of the outfit.”
Chetia’s family owns a small tea garden on a 20-bigha plot. “If uncle (Chetia) comes back home, we would engage him in the tea business. We hope he will take the business forward,” says Arup Baruah, 30, Suren’s son.
In the next house, one can hear the sharp voice of a woman in her late 80s telling a story to her grandson Chukafa. “Grandmother talks about uncle sometimes,” says the Class V student. “I have never seen him, only seen his photo on TV. Grandma cries for him; she has not seen him for more than 30 years.” For her part, Miliki Baruah, Paresh’s mother, says she wants to see her son and nephew before she dies. “I want my Paresh to come back and join the peace process; I want him to come back with Golap. I want to see him at least once before I die.” Inside, perhaps, she doubts whether her son will ever return.
Not everyone wants Paresh to return because of sentimental reasons alone. Bikul Baruah, 43, Paresh’s youngest sibling, is a teacher at the local primary school. He feels the state government has not done its bit. “Not only the family, but the whole village and the entire state wants my brother and Golap da to come back,” he says. “They went to the jungle for a cause, not to build a good life. Assam knows this very well, but the government has to reach out to them.”
The Baruah family had five sons and a daughter. One of Paresh’s brothers Dinesh was gunned down by unknown assailant in 1994. “I have already lost one son. I want my son back and peace. And I want to tell Arabinda Rajkhowa [ULFA Chairman] to be proactive to get Paresh back. Both started the struggle together. They can bring peace together as well,” adds a desperate Miliki.
Although Paresh’s family wants peace, they do not hesitate to call him a ‘revolutionary’. “When my brother went underground, he was working for the Railways. He was an ace footballer; so he must not have gone for himself. There was a huge cause, but things have changed; so he should be persuaded to join the process. The family had to live under the shadow of the gun for a long time; we have seen hard times,” says Bikul.
Thirty years ago, when Chetia and Paresh went underground, many bright youths followed in their footsteps. Jeraigaon soon became the prime target of the Army and the police. “Many innocent youths were picked up and killed. The army harassed us since it was Paresh Baruah’s area. We did consider ULFA to be the saviour of Assam. But now, peace needs a chance as they [ULFA] have disintegrated. Paresh and Anup still remain our heroes; we respect them,” says Tileshwar Neog, 72, of Jerai Thekaguri Village. Almost everyone in Jeraigaon swears by Baruah and Chetia, which is why ULFA still gets recruits from here.
“I strongly feel that if Anup is sent back from Bangladesh and he joins peace, Paresh will change his mind. I still remember them eating from the same plate after school,” recalls a teary-eyed Suren.
Chetia was first arrested in 1991 in Kolkata. Released on parole to start dialogue and convince Paresh to come to the negotiating table, Chetia fled instead only to be arrested again in Bangladesh in 1997 under the Passport Act and Foreigners Act for illegally staying in the neighboring country. “We want to help the government. The Centre can help us to go to Bangladesh and arrange a meeting with Anup. We can convince him and Paresh. But the ULFA charter of demands for talks should also be acceptable to them.” Paresh had earlier rejected the pro-talk faction’s charter of demands claiming it overrode the outlawed outfit’s objectives.
Bangladesh kept Chetia in ‘protective custody’ since New Delhi and Dhaka do not have an extradition treaty. In 2008, he applied for political asylum in Bangladesh. New Delhi has since been trying to convince Dhaka to repatriate Chetia. The thrust to his repatriation came in when Rajkhowa, who backs talks, pressed for Chetia’s presence in the talks. Sources have confirmed to TEHELKA that Chetia is now holed up in a ‘safehouse’ of the Bangladesh intelligence in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, residents of Jeraigaon object to the media branding both cousins terrorists, and not revolutionaries. “Agreed that ULFA has killed many people but they were forced to do so. And what the Army did was even more disgraceful killing innocents. The media should not be biased,” says a young villager refusing to be named.
Jeraigaon is keeping its fingers crossed. A silver lining is evident with friends and family members of both Baruah and Chetia expecting to see their sons return after 30 years. But there is also the original sin, the reason why it all began. As Baruah’s friend and businessman Niranjan Kumar Goel puts it, “The twin issues of exploitation of Assam’s resources and Bangladeshi infiltration still looms large. These need to be settled or else Assam might see more Pareshs or Anups.” Until that happens, or the talks are fruitful, Jeraigaon will have to wait for the runaway cousins.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
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