In ULFA heartland, few shed tears over news from Bhutan

Things have changed. In fact, no one here wants to talk about the them. ‘‘We have lost not just a large number of boys, who could have contributed positively to the society, but several valuable years too,’’ said Prasanta Gohain, a small businessman who said he once ‘‘whole-heartedly’’ supported the ULFA cause. ‘‘They definitely did a lot of good work in the initial years, which caught the imagination of the common people. But now we are all disgusted. We don’t want to talk about them any more,’’ he added.Dibrugarh and Tinsukia have thrown up a number of important leaders. While its general secretary Anup Chetia and armed wing chief Paresh Barua hail from Jerai Chakalibhoriya village about 30 km from here, the outfit’s ideologue and advisor Bhimkanta Buragohain, who was killed in Bhutan yesterday, came from Dhola in Tinsukia.

‘‘We have also seen how a large number of boys who surrendered become rich overnight. Where did the money come from?’’ asked a college teacher. A number of former ULFA leaders have set up big shops and business establishments in Dibrugarh.

In Doomdooma, which houses the headquarters of Hindustan Lever’s tea operations, entrepreneur Mulendra Moran strongly criticises the ULFA for targeting tea companies and different oil installations. ‘‘They (the ULFA) do not understand that the vast majority of Assamese people are heavily dependent on the tea and oil industry,’’ he says.

On November 26, the ULFA had launched a rocket attack on Hindustan Lever’s Rs 125-crore personal products factory. Mulendra Moran and several other educated youth of these two districts have not only set up ancillary units linked to HLL’s units, but have also provided employment to over 2,000 youth from Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. People in hush-hush conversations, however, discuss the fate of ULFA that had once set up its headquarters inside the dense Lakhipathar reserved forest close to Digboi oil township. That camp was smashed by army in December 1990, following which the militants shifted base to Bhutan. ‘‘We knew the strength of ULFA. They can no doubt carry out hit-and-run operations and abduct people. But fighting the Indian Army was just a false dream that even a small army like that of Bhutan has already shattered,’’ said a government schoolteacher in Tinsukia.