Articles by Hiren Gohain

While the gruesome atrocities and the reports of alliances with foreign agents have hardened public doubts about the United Liberation Front of Asom, one cannot dismiss the entire enterprise as criminal and fraudulent. In the backdrop of the history of modern Assam, this article touches upon the conditions leading to the rise of ULFA, the making and unmaking of its character, its political significance, and the need for a sincere attempt at peace. The author views the ULFA's political immaturity, anarchic worship of violence (as the only solution) and adventurism as largely related to the fortunes of the Assamese people in historical circumstances not entirely of their own making and choice.

The following statement was issued on January 12 by concerned citizens of Assam about the enormous scale of violence in the state and its consequences for the future.

With the liberal application of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 in the north-east wherever insurgency has raised its head, over time the army is getting brutalised. The state cannot remain far behind.

The right to land was once deemed an inalienable right of the people. The colonial dispensation altered this equation, a practice that the postcolonial state persisted with. But threatened by the twin ravages of nature and the "acquisitive" forces of industrial capitalism, those dispossessed are beginning to fight back. In Assam, there has been a small beginning towards this.

It is usually believed by exponents of Hindutva that theirs is a bold revolt against western hegemony, but in fact it is an imperfect and slavish imitation of that hegemonic system, a caricature.