Govt's paying the price for going soft on Ulfa

NEW DELHI: The eruption of Ulfa (United Liberation Front of Assam) violence in Assam, which has left over 70- poor migrant workers from Bihar and eastern UP dead in the past three days, has once again exposed the pitfalls in the blow-hot-blow-cold policies adopted by the Tarun Gogoi government and the Centre vis a vis the discredited militant outfit.

Worse, the latest round of select killings by the Ulfa should not have come as a surprise to either the state government or the Centre as the December edition of the Ulfa mouthpiece, Freedom, had clearly spelt out its plan to strike at these hapless migrants.

It was clear that the Ulfa was desperate to make its voice heard at the national level once again at a time when it is facing organisational crisis and losing acceptability among sections who had supported it in the past. It has also timed the attacks in the run up to next month’s National Games in Guwahati, making its black-mailing tactics pretty clear.

Politically, the development has put both the Congress and its governments — at the Centre and the state — on the backfoot on more than one count. Firstly, the Assam episode has thrown the spanner in the works of the Congress and the Centre in building a post-Nithari law and order case against the UP government.

The development has also given the Opposition, especially the BJP, yet another opportunity to harp about UPA’s alleged soft approach on internal security. With assembly elections in three North Indian states round the corner, any delay in containing Ulfa attack on Hindi-speaking people, the Congress leaders here fear, could prove costly for the party’s electoral projects.

The development has also confirmed the worst fears of those who had been sceptical about the true intention of the Ulfa in approaching the Centre recently for peace talks through emissaries like Indira Goswami.

These critics had often argued that it was a ploy of the isolated Ulfa to buy the much-needed time to regroup its cadre and collect arms and ammunition. The subsequent failure of the peace efforts on account of the Ulfa’s unrealistic conditions, and the eruption of violence now, lend credibility to the foresight of these critics.

One man who could come under scanner now is Mr Gogoi. It is no secret that even a section of the Congress was critical about the manner in which the chief minister has been handling the Ulfa issue right from the beginning of his chief ministership in 2001.

If the previous AGP government had nearly broken the backbone of the Ulfa network through a series of tough operations in full co-ordination with the then central government, the Gogoi government was often accused of reversing the fortunes of Ulfa, even after Bhutan had disowned the Ulfa kingpins, for short-term political gains.

Both in 2001 and 2006 assembly polls, in which Mr Gogoi had led the Congress campaign, the party had offered a post-poll political package for the Ulfa. This made the party campaign easier in upper Assam.

Though the Gogoi government could never succeed in reaching a political settlement with the Ulfa, his regime also failed to adopt an uncompromising stand against the outfit. It is no secret that the Army, was upset about the manner in which the combing operations against Ulfa was halted by the Gogoi government.

His "occasional tough talks" against ULFA, are often seen as a political posturing in the wake of some killings in the state. The anti-Gogoi faction in the Congress itself was extremely critical about these policy flip-flop with the ULFA.

They often argued that ULFA, apart from its alleged links with ISI and LTTE, is also one organisation that is committed only to the 'ideology' of ethic cleansing and extortion.

The failure of the UPA government and the state regime to crack down such discredit outfits with a clear political and administrative perspective could only strengthen the divisive outfits, they say. It is up to Congress high command to provide that political direction, at least now.

cl.manoj@timesgroup.com