GUWAHATI, May 19 – With its military strength gone after the operations carried out by the Royal Bhutan Army in December last year, the leadership of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) is now on the verge of a split over the question of talks with the Indian government. And NDFB chairman Ranjan Daimary is apparently readying himself for it. Daimary has bought himself a piece of land in Myanmar with the intention of settling down there in the event that his lieutenants corner him.
Knowledgeable sources said here that the NDFB might never really recover from the setback that it suffered in Bhutan. The outfit suffered fatal setbacks with many of its cadres and some senior leaders being killed, arrested or forced to surrender. With the formation of the BTC, the outfit finds itself totally sidelined.
There has been large-scale desertions in the NDFB ranks with the lower level cadres no longer willing to undergo the hardships of the jungles, the sources informed. A large number of cadres are still roaming around Assam and Meghalaya without any active channel of communication with the leadership that has installed itself in Bangladesh. “The ivory tower approach of the leaders have disillusioned the cadres,” the sources said.
Most of the NDFB leaders are based in Bangladesh, especially in Dhaka. The NDFB has invested heavily in the hotel, travel and shares business in that country. They are being patronised by a section of the Bangladeshi politicians. What is shocking is that these politicians are kept happy through a regular supply of women, including the NDFB’s own women cadres. Reports from across the border say that the NDFB men, cadres of other militant outfits and the Bangladeshi politicians regularly abuse the outfit’s women guerrillas.
Despite enjoying the patronage of a section of the Bangladeshi leadership, the NDFB is very much aware that it could be ‘smoked out’ anytime from that country. The recent seizure of arms in Chittagong has been taken as a signal that the Bangladesh Government might be responding to the security concerns raised by India. There is a sense of unease among a section of the outfit’s think-tank, which favours talks with the Government of India rather than carrying on the uneven fight.
It is over this issue that there is emerging a split in the NDFB. The differences have reached such an extent that Ranjan Daimary alias D/R Babla alias Ronsingra Nabla now trusts no one in Bangladesh. The ‘spoils of war’ could also be a reason behind the frictions. “A major split in Bangladesh is in the offing,” the sources stated. Preparing himself for it, Daimary has purchased a plot of land in Yangon (Rangoon). The exact address of the plot remains unknown, as Daimary has chosen to keep the secret to himself.
Even Daimary’s close aide, Arun Borgoyari alias B Dingthilang, the NDFB’s deputy commander-in-chief and a self-styled Major based in the outfit’s Bolsary camp (in Bangladesh), is not privy to the secret, the sources said. The Bolsary camp, incidentally, is home for the NDFB’s 3rd Battalion. Daimary, the sources added, has bought the land with the NDFB money.
According to the sources, the land has been bought to give Daimary the option to settle down in Myanmar in case the pro-talk section of the NDFB gains control of the outfit. In fact, there is increasing indication that it may happen sooner rather than later. A lot of pressure is being mounted from several quarters, including from the newly floated All Bodo Peace Forum based in Udalguri. Ranjan Daimary’s sister Anjali Daimary, it is said, is also associated with it. The Forum is appealing to the NDFB cadres to come to the mainstream.
However, there is another possible reason for which the Myanmar land could have been purchased, the sources added. That is probably to make Yangon the mobile headquarters (MHQ) of the NDFB and the headquarters of its ‘Goodwill Mission’. The ‘Goodwill Mission’, the sources said, includes the Foreign and Arms Procurement Missions of the outfit.