NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF BODOLAND (NDFB )

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF BODOLAND (NDFB )

The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) was originally formed as the Boro Security Force under the leadership of Ranjan Daimary on October 3, 1986. On November 25, 1994, the outfit changed its name to NDFB. The outfit aims at securing a sovereign country for the Bodo tribals, the largest plains tribe in the state of Assam, in the areas north of the river Brahmaputra. The NDFB in October 2004 announced a unilateral ceasefire. A formal ceasefire agreement between NDFB and the Government was signed on 25 May 2005.

Internal differences within NDFB, the only surviving Bodo insurgent group, widened following the expulsion of its founder president, Ranjan Daimary, alias D.R. Nabla following accusation of his involvement in the October 30 serial explosions. On 15 December 2008, the NDFB replaced Ranjan Daimary, with B. Sungthagra alias Dhiren Boro, as its new president at a meeting held in Kokrajhar. A few days later, Daimary was expelled from the group. The NDFB now has two factions - a pro-talk faction led by Dhiren Boro (B. Sungthagra alias Dhiren Boro is the President of the pro-talk group of NDFB and B. Swmkhwr alias Govinda Basumatary is its General Secretary) and another hardliner led by Ranjan Daimary who claims to represent the ‘real’ NDFB.

During it’s hey days, the outfit remained active in areas in the north and north-west of the river Brahmaputra in Assam. Districts such as Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Dhubri, Darrang, Nalbari and Sonitpur remained the traditional stronghold of the outfit. In spite of its espousal of the interests of the Bodo people, the NDFB remained bitterly opposed to the other Bodo militant outfit, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT). Several of BLT’s leaders and civil society organisations empathising with the BLT were killed by the NDFB.

The December 2003 military crackdown by the Royal Bhutanese Army dealt a serious blow to the NDFB, which had strength of about 3500 cadres. As many as 12 camps of the outfit located in Bhutan were destroyed, impacting seriously on the capability of the outfit to carry on with its activities. Following the ceasefire with the government, NDFB cadres were supposed to stay in three designated camps. However, only a few currently are lodged in the camps.

NDFB has close ties with the ULFA and in many cases they carry out joint operations. It also has relationship with other outfits in the region like the Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC), the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K).

On 1 May 2008, NDFB submitted a charter of demands to the Prime Minister. The charter of demands included sovereignty or independence as the main clause which created trouble for the talks to begin. However, on 30 September 2008, NDFB submitted in writing their decision to hold peace talks within the ambit of the Indian constitution by giving up its demand for sovereignty during a meeting in New Delhi with union home ministry officials. The first round of talks between the Centre and the pro-talk faction of NDFB was held on 23 September 2009 in New Delhi. The ceasefire is also being periodically extended.