Such a long journey: From Assam’s jungles to State Assembly

Six former militants enter Assembly, four of them from the Bodo party whose support Congress needs to form government

Who is Kushal Dowari? This is what his affidavit before the Election Commission says: he has as many as five criminal cases registered against him under various Sections of the IPC including Sec 302, 307, 324, 325, 427, 201, 109 and so on, that include among others, cases for possessing prohibited arms, criminal conspiracy for committing murder and attempting to murder.

Dowari, 40, once a dreaded ULFA militant and more popularly known as Jayanta Hazarika, is today an MLA. He defeated veteran Congress leader Davananda Konwar at Thowra in Sivasagar in Upper Assam.

This incidentally was Dowari’s third attempt to get into the state Assembly. Dowari, however, is not the first or only former militant to have made it to the Assam Assembly.

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Jiten Gogoi, another former ULFA militant who has won for the second consecutive time from Bokakhat in Golaghat district, defeated another veteran Congress leader Bhupendra Nath Bhuyan. Both Dowari and Gogoi have won as Independents.

Four prominent leaders of the now defunct Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) have also become ‘‘hon’ble MLAs.’ They are: Chandan Brahma, former vice-chairman of the once dreaded outfit, Chandi Basumatary, former commander of the Nalbari district unit of the BLT, Maheswar Boro, former secretary of the BLT’s Darrang district unit, and Maneswar Brahma, former Nalbari district chairman.

All of them have won as candidates of the Hagrama Mohilari faction of the Bodo People’s Progressive Front (BPPF), a group that has won 11 seats and will now provide the much-needed support to the Congress.

‘‘There came a time when we were compelled to take up arms. But after having negotiated peacefully with the government and signed an accord, we have realised that becoming part of the policy-making process is much more important,’’ said Derhasat Basumatary, an executive member of the Bodoland Territorial Council, who was the secretary-general of the now defunct Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT).

samudra.gupta.kashyap@expressindia.com

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