Guwahati, Dec 1 (IBNS): While the government and security forces have continued operations against the militant groups and trying to break their backbone, banned outfit group United Liberation Front of Asom – Independent (ULFA-I) has recruited over 100 youths of the state in past five months by taking advantage of the current situation in Assam.
The banned outfit group is also trying to collect mass support following the Citizenship Amendment Bill row.
Sources said that among these, most are educated youths, and it is ringing an alarm bell.
A top official of Assam police said that huge public sentiment against the bill has made the outfit’s task of recruiting drive much easier and they are trying to set up strong bases in the state, especially in the upper Assam region.
Recently, a software engineer hailing from Moran area in upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district had joined the banned organisation and he shared a video on social media that took shot in unknown location.
The youth identified as Chow Abhijeet Gogoi shared his video on social media and confirmed that, he has joined the rebel outfit for the sake of the ‘Axomiya jaati’ (Assamese community).
The youth was dressed in a camouflage attire and holding an AK-47 rifle in his hand said in the video, “My name is Abhijeet Gogoi and I am hailing from Moran, Dibrugarh. I received my degree from Chennai's SRM Institute of Science and Technology. I was engaged as a software engineer with a company named Hitachi. I got MBA degree from Bengaluru and I was worked in Bengaluru, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia. Lastly, I was worked as a senior software engineer at a company in Bengaluru but I resigned my job and decided to join ULFA-I as I am worried about the future of Assam. Presently the Assamese community is in trouble. I urge the youths of Assam to join ULFA-I.”
He added, “I left everything to join the revolution, the revolutionary fight. I had to join the fight for the sake of the Axomiya Jaati and its identity”.
Not only Abhijeet Gogoi, recently two other educated youths, ULFA-I’s chief Paresh Baruah’s nephew Munna Baruah, who worked in Indian Oil Corporation Limited at Digboi and Pankaj Pratim Dutta hails from Dergaon area in Golaghat district had also joined the outfit.
Pankaj Pratim Dutta was the vice president of the Dergaon unit of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and he also shared a video on social media and confirmed to join the banned outfit.
Meanwhile, Assam minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that there was nothing new as 150-200 youths from Assam joined ULFA-I every year.
“They joined the outfit due to lack of employment opportunities, not because they dislike the government or oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill,” the Assam minister said.
It is to be mentioned that, the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 is aimed to grant Indian citizenship to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
On the other hand, opposition Congress blamed the both centre and state government for ignoring the sentiments of the people of Assam which led to rise the youths joining the rebel outfit.
Assam Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia said that both centre and state government have ignored the sentiments of the people of Assam and trying to push ahead with the controversial citizenship bill.
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