We will now democratically ask for our dues: Mrinal Hazarika, ULFA commander

As a college student in Dibrugarh in Upper Assam, Mrinal Hazarika first met ULFA’s commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah in 1984. Baruah by then was trained by Naga insurgent group NSCN, and came down to the plains to recruit cadres for an armed struggle. Baruah did not have much to offer. What he had with him was a photo album with training photographs shot in an undisclosed location in Naga hills.

Hazarika was impressed by Baruah’s pep talk. But leaving his family and joining an armed struggle was no small decision though. “I formally joined ULFA in 1989 and headed towards Myanmar for training. Kachin Independence Army then facilitated our training. I was a part of ULFA’s third batch of cadres to get arms training,” he told ET Magazine during an interaction in Dibrugarh last week.

Within ULFA, Hazarika rose pretty fast. Once ULFA’s Bhutan camps were destroyed in a 2003 India-Bhutan joint operation, Hazarika became a rallying point for regrouping the ULFA cadres. He was then made the commander of one of ULFA’s most dreaded battalions named 28th Battalion.

Today Hazarika has not surrendered his arms, but is convinced that an armed struggle is no longer a viable option to get “Assam’s dues”. “We will now democratically ask for our dues. About 10,000 people have died in this struggle. The government of India must give us the maximum possible within the framework of the Indian constitution,” he says.

Hazarika concedes that talks without Paresh Baruah remain incomplete. “He is intelligent, emotional but highly adamant. I still remember that unless he won a game of chess, he would never allow you to leave the game. I don’t think, sir (Paresh Baruah) will join the peace talks anytime soon,” he says.