AN ARTICLE in an English daily in Assam has created quite a flutter. According to it, during a meeting in a remote village on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, around 100 Moran youth from upper Assam decided to take up arms protesting the state and the Centres apathy towards their longstanding demand of according Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the community.
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The Morans an ethnic community based primarily in the upper Assam districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivsagar have been clamouring for ST status for some time. Protests had been staged earlier during the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls but the stir had never reached such a point. On 18 January, five organisations of the community the All Assam Moran Students Union (AAMSU), Asom Moran Sabha (AMS), Sadou Moran Kala Sanskriti Bikas Kendra (SMKSBK), Moran Jatiya Mahila Parishad (MJMP) and Moran Jatiya Karmachari Saikhik Bikas Mancha (MJKSBM) gave the call to launch an indefinite mass movement against the state and the Centre and settle for no less than ST status for the community. We will intensify our agitation and New Delhi and Dispur will have to pay later if they do not respond, warned Jyotimoni Baruah, general secretary of AAMSU at the gathering in Tinsukia.
In a state plagued by extremism, this development is worrying not only for Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, but also the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Youth from the Moran and Motok communities of upper Assam have formed the majority of ULFA recruitments. In the days to follow, we might see an uprising from the community, says Dibrugarh-based journalist Ripunjoy Das. If the Morans form an ethnic armed outfit, upper Assam might see violence again. Tuhin Saikia, a resident of Doomdooma, a Moran-populated area echoes these fears. Upper Assam has tea and oil, but both industries suffered because of three decades of insurgency. Things were finally getting better. If the Morans take up arms, it will get volatile again, he says.
Even as the peace talks between the Centre and ULFAs pro-talk faction led by Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa move forward at a snails pace, the anti-talks faction of ULFA led by commander-in-chief Paresh Barua has been recruiting fresh cadres from the Moran heartland. The call to form a Moran rebel outfit is bad news for the elusive rebel leader.
Morans are also irked with media reports suggesting the governments willingness to accord ST status to tea tribes, a traditional Congress votebank. Elders in the Moran community have apparently given a go-ahead to the young brigade to form a rebel outfit on ethnic lines like the Bodos, sending alarm signals to the ULFA. Our commander- in-chief has asked Jiban Moran, our top leader, to pacify those who have decided to take up arms. Our leadership fears that if the Morans wage a separate rebellion, ULFA will suffer in terms of manpower, says an ULFA operative.
Moran and Motok youths have formed the majority of ULFA recruitments
Jiban Moran is getting student activist-turned- ULFA cadre Rahendra Moran to talk to the youth, but the feedback has not been positive. A highly placed military intelligence source says 25 Morans have already started training.
However, the Morans will not have it easy. Not all ST groups in Assam like the idea of ST status for them. The government should not take any decision that will adversely affect the STs of the state, says LN Pangging, president of Janajati Nagrik Manch. The tribal groups platform had slammed the Moran community for the December protest in Delhi. On its part, the state government is apprehensive. The Morans might set a precedent that could provoke smaller ethnic groups like Motoks, Chutias, Tai-Ahoms and Koch Rajbonshis to give a similar call to arms.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
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http://www.tehelka.com/channels/News/2012/Feb/04/images/Alarm.jpg
The Morans an ethnic community based primarily in the upper Assam districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivsagar have been clamouring for ST status for some time. Protests had been staged earlier during the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls but the stir had never reached such a point. On 18 January, five organisations of the community the All Assam Moran Students Union (AAMSU), Asom Moran Sabha (AMS), Sadou Moran Kala Sanskriti Bikas Kendra (SMKSBK), Moran Jatiya Mahila Parishad (MJMP) and Moran Jatiya Karmachari Saikhik Bikas Mancha (MJKSBM) gave the call to launch an indefinite mass movement against the state and the Centre and settle for no less than ST status for the community. We will intensify our agitation and New Delhi and Dispur will have to pay later if they do not respond, warned Jyotimoni Baruah, general secretary of AAMSU at the gathering in Tinsukia.
In a state plagued by extremism, this development is worrying not only for Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, but also the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Youth from the Moran and Motok communities of upper Assam have formed the majority of ULFA recruitments. In the days to follow, we might see an uprising from the community, says Dibrugarh-based journalist Ripunjoy Das. If the Morans form an ethnic armed outfit, upper Assam might see violence again. Tuhin Saikia, a resident of Doomdooma, a Moran-populated area echoes these fears. Upper Assam has tea and oil, but both industries suffered because of three decades of insurgency. Things were finally getting better. If the Morans take up arms, it will get volatile again, he says.
Even as the peace talks between the Centre and ULFAs pro-talk faction led by Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa move forward at a snails pace, the anti-talks faction of ULFA led by commander-in-chief Paresh Barua has been recruiting fresh cadres from the Moran heartland. The call to form a Moran rebel outfit is bad news for the elusive rebel leader.
Morans are also irked with media reports suggesting the governments willingness to accord ST status to tea tribes, a traditional Congress votebank. Elders in the Moran community have apparently given a go-ahead to the young brigade to form a rebel outfit on ethnic lines like the Bodos, sending alarm signals to the ULFA. Our commander- in-chief has asked Jiban Moran, our top leader, to pacify those who have decided to take up arms. Our leadership fears that if the Morans wage a separate rebellion, ULFA will suffer in terms of manpower, says an ULFA operative.
Moran and Motok youths have formed the majority of ULFA recruitments
Jiban Moran is getting student activist-turned- ULFA cadre Rahendra Moran to talk to the youth, but the feedback has not been positive. A highly placed military intelligence source says 25 Morans have already started training.
However, the Morans will not have it easy. Not all ST groups in Assam like the idea of ST status for them. The government should not take any decision that will adversely affect the STs of the state, says LN Pangging, president of Janajati Nagrik Manch. The tribal groups platform had slammed the Moran community for the December protest in Delhi. On its part, the state government is apprehensive. The Morans might set a precedent that could provoke smaller ethnic groups like Motoks, Chutias, Tai-Ahoms and Koch Rajbonshis to give a similar call to arms.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
