Extremist Challenge and Indian State-Case of Assam

Case of Assam THE hottest question in Assam today is whether talks between the government and the ULFA will materialise. The AGP ministry has time and again offered to talk to the militants without pre-conditions, only to come up against a deafening silence. From the very beginning the ULFA did not appear keen on talks, partly because a section among them considered any kind of talks a sell-out, partly because the last time such talks were held the negotiations seemed only to advance the personal interests of the 'surrendered' (sic!) ULFA. Yet the people of Assam are overwhelmingly in favour of a dialogue between the government and the extremist organisation, and sharply hostile to the line of extermination popular with certain sections of the central government and the army. That does not mean that they are eager to endorse widespread extortions and sundry killings by ULFA in the name of revolution. Now it is this ambiguity in the Assamese response to the extremist challenge that outsiders, whether resident in Assam or not, find exasperating.