Student leader in ULFA net

The arrest of a former student leader of a hallowed institution like Gauhati University for allegedly having links with the proscribed organization called United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and his alleged involvement in a grenade explosion in the heart of Guwahati earlier this month has come as a big surprise. According to the police, the former student leader was in touch with none other than ULFA leader Paresh Barua, a man who has waged a war against the nation, and was part of the conspiracy hatched to foment trouble by way of hurling grenades at security personnel in Guwahati. The question that comes to the minds of right-thinking, law-abiding patriotic citizens is – what could make a person, who was till recently president of the Post-Graduate Students’ Union of Gauhati University, join hands with an outlawed group of misguided youths like the ULFA. It is very important to find out what had motivated the former student leader to become attracted towards an anti-national gang that believes in and practices violence instead of seeking solutions through the democratic process. It is also equally important, particularly for the Assam Police, to find out how many such youths have been attracted towards forces like the ULFA and what could be the immediate reasons for such attraction. It could be so that the ULFA had started luring more such youths in the recent past, and that it had particularly targeting educated youths instead of looking for high school dropouts. It could also be so that the ULFA, which is now suspected to be also trading in arms and other contraband items, was using a section of educated youths to market the illicit items that are being smuggled into Assam from Myanmar and China. It could also be so that the educated youths would remain outside the ambit of suspicion of the police and intelligence agencies, which in turn would make things easier for the ULFA. The recent grenade explosion has already revealed how the ULFA was using small-time actresses and other persons for carrying out its acts of subversion and violence. It was only recently that the intelligence agencies had indicated that a section of so-called intellectuals were involved in inciting, supporting, providing intellectual inputs and also vital information to the ULFA. There are also reports that the police was likely to swoop down and take action against such self-styled intellectuals for their clandestine links with the ULFA. While it is a fact the overwhelming majority of youth in Assam, whether in rural areas or in urban areas, are no longer enamoured and attracted by the so-called ideology of the ULFA, there still exists a microscopic section even among the self-styled intellectuals who subscribe to the ULFA’s views. There is also a microscopic section among the self-styled intellectuals who want to sell anti-India and secessionist ideas to the younger generation instead of helping them find the right path and contribute at least to the well-being of their respective families.