The National Democratic Front of Bodoland, also known as NDFB or the Bodo Security Force, is a terrorist outfit which seeks to obtain a sovereign Bodoland for the Bodo people in Assam, India. The founder of the organization, Ransaigra Nabla Daimary, alias Ranjan Daimary has been arrested and detained by Indian authorities. Though NDF advocates sovereignty for Bodos, however, majority of its members are Christians, who themselves do not represent majority indigenous Bodos. Bodos use Devanagari script as medium of writing, but NDFB promotes Roman Script to suite their agenda.[1][2]
Contents |
The organization came into being on October 3, 1986, in Odla Khasibari village close to Udalguri. It was originally called Boro Security Force (BSF) and changed its name to the present one on November 25, 1994. Majority of the cadres were Christians.[3] This organization is often confused with the erstwhile Bodo Liberation Tigers Force, which has since joined the political mainstream. The flag of the NDFB is green with a yellow star on red background on the corner.
This organisation fights to get a sovereign Bodoland north of the Brahmaputra River. It was very active during the 1990s. It consists of around 1,000 fighters. The NDFB is allied with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (IM) and illegally occupies terrorist training camps in the South of Bhutan. In December 2003, the government of Bhutan and the Indian Army launched joint operations to destroy these terrorist camps operated in Bhutanese territory by ULFA and NDFB. They also were implicated in the assassination of Bineshwar Brahma, a prominent educationist and litterateur in Bodoland opposed to the writing of the Bodo language in Roman script.
The main goals include:[4]
The NDFB occupied the areas to the north and northwest of the Brahmaputra river in Assam primarily. It was also active in Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Darrang, Berpeta, Nalbari, Dhubri, Sonitpur, and the Garo hills region of Meghalaya.[5]
The NDFB held a general assembly meeting to elect new leaders. They elected B. Sungthagra alias Dhiren Boro as the new President, and B Sungthagra is suspected to have regained his chair as vice president.[6] It was revealed that the "home secretary" of the NDFB is Sabin Boro.[7]
Under an agreement on May 24, 2005 with the Government of India and the NDFB has been maintaining a ceasefire since June 1, 2005. Since the cease fire the level of threat posed by the NDFB has dropped. The agreement stated that the NDFB agree to cease hostile action against security forces and civilians. In return, the security forces would not carry out operations against the group's members. The agreement also stipulated that NDFB members would disarm and live in camps protected by the military for a year, and would refrain from assisting other militant groups.[8] The ceasefire is expected to lead to talks between the armed group and state agencies and ultimately to a complete halt in armed conflicts.
However, in May 2006, five members of the security forces were abducted and then killed by suspected NDFB members in Assam's Udalguri district. The group also continued to clash with cadres of the ex-BLTF (Bodo Liberation Tiger Force). On June 5, 2006, two former BLTF cadres were killed by NDFB militants in the Karbi Anglong district, and one former member of the disbanded group was lynched by suspected NDFB militants in Golaghat district on June 3, 2007.[8]
In November 2010, NDFB announced that they would kill "at least 20 Indians" to avenge the death of their commander, Mohan Basumatary in October 2010. On 8 November 2010, 19 people were killed in attacks by separatist rebels on markets and a bus in Assam. The Assam Police attributed the attack to NDFB.[9] 14 of the victims were Hindi-speaking government employees hailing from the Bihar state.[10]
On 14th march 2011 militants of the Ranjan Daimary-led faction ambushed patrolling troop of BSF when on way from Bangladoba in Chirang district of Assam to Ultapani in Kokrajhar killing 8 jawans.[11]