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Why talk with Ulfa if it persists? Some things have remained unchanged in Assam, notwithstanding the talks about talks between the Centre and the Ulfa, and even in spite of the beginning of deliberations between New Delhi and the Ulfa-appointed People’s Consultative Group (PCG) in October last.
Through it all, the ghastly Ulfa-perpetrated violence has not stilled. The occasional lull has inevitably been broken by explosions across the state, targeting gas and oil pipelines and power plants, apart from the gun battles. Then, the Ulfa’s ‘core’ demand has remained the same — ‘sovereignty’. Given these two constants, what is happening between the militant group and New Delhi is meaningless at best, and born of dangerously shortsighted politics in fact. With Assam bracing for assembly polls this year, rhetoric of ‘direct talks’, ‘permanent solution’, ‘ceasefire’, and ‘safe passage’ once again fills the air. The incumbent Congress government is straining to notch up some ...
