A youth from Assam has claimed that he left his job as a senior software engineer in an IT firm in Bengaluru to join Ulfa (Independent), a militant group, as ‘identity of the state’s indigenous people are under serious threat.’
The youth, who identified himself as Abhijit Gogoi, hailing from Moran in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh district, shared a video on Facebook on Friday, in which he claimed that he had joined an IT firm in Chennai soon after his post graduation in scienceand IT in 2012. He also completed MBA from Bangalore Business School and Management and travelled to Singapore, Australia and Malaysia for work before joining the Bengaluru-based IT firm. He says he worked as a senior software engineer in the company in the company but does not spell out when did he join the company.
The boy is seen standing in army camouflage with an AK 47 rifle on his right shoulder and a walkie-talkie hanging from his uniform, close to his shoulder.
The 3.59 minutes video, shot inside a jungle was shared in a Facebook profile which goes by the name – Chow Abhijeet Gogoi (Abhi). The video has since been deleted.
“I left everything to join the revolution, the revolutionary fight. I had to join the fight for the sake of the Axomiya jaati (Assamese community) and its identity. What is happening in Assam today is unfortunate. Whom do we trust? There are many many unarmed organisations in Assam, who just acts like factories to produce future political leaders. But indigenous people are fast losing identity,” Gogoi says in the video.
“We are witnessing what is happening in Tripura. Even in America, the indigenous people are facing threat,” he said.
Police officials said the youth could be talking about the protests in Assam against NDA’s Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. The indigenous people fear that it would reduce them into minorities as it seeks to offer citizenship to non-muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, facing ‘religious persecution.’ They say a large number of Hindu migrants, who settled in Assam after March 24,1971 will get citizenship once the bill is passed. They says foreigner issue should be solved through NRC with the cut-off date of March 24, 1971, which was agreed in Assam Accord of 1985.
Police said like Gogoi, a few youths recently joined the militant group as the BJP-led government refused to listen to the public protests in Assam against the bill.
Ulfa (Independent), led by rebel leader Paresh Baruah, having its hideouts along Myanmar-China borders, has also stepped up fresh induction and attracting local youths, taking advantage of the growing anger against the government for its stand on the bill.
