Bloodletting in Assam

There are some insurgencies that have a reason. And there are some like the insurgency by a faction of the Bodos that defy all logic. The killing of 14 civilians in a tiny bazaar in Assam is of one such piece. The Bodos comprise one-third of the population of Assam and their leaders have always enjoyed the fruits of power. They were in Tarun Gogoi’s Cabinet for 15 years and, on sensing the political wind, crossed over to the BJP camp just before the Assembly elections. Successive governments have also accommodated their political desire for reservation in government jobs and an autonomous council comprising four districts where they are in majority. The Bodos now rule the roost in these districts, although there is a substantial Muslim and Adivasi population as well.

Successive governments have also been open to talking to insurgent groups and have succeeding in persuading many of them to give up arms. But like an amoeba, one group splits and refuses to lay down arms. In order to mark its presence, it usually hacks to death dirt poor and defenceless Adivasis and Muslims. They were responsible for the biggest massacre in recent times with the slaughter of almost 100 Adivasis in late 2014. For diversion, they vent their blood lust on Hindi-speaking people transiting through their territory to other parts of the North-East.

The gun-wielding faction of the Bodos is now demanding a state. This is a wish no government can afford to fulfil as it will set off competing demands from other ethnicities not just in Assam but other north eastern states as well. The security forces did well to reach the massacre site and gun down one of the assailants. The Centre now needs to converse with Bhutan and Myanmar because most of the top leaders of the Songbijit faction shelter in these two countries. In fact the militant training camp in Bhutan has acquired an assembly line type of consistency in churning out trained hit-men. It is time for a repeat of “Operation All Clear” that uprooted ULFA camps and netted several of its senior ideologues in 2003.