National Democratic Front of Boroland


The National Democratic Front of Boroland was an armed separatist outfit which seeks to obtain a sovereign Boroland for the Bodo people. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by the Government of India.
NDFB traces its origin to Bodo Security Force, a militant group formed in 1986. The current name was adopted in 1994, after the group rejected Bodo Accord signed between the Government of India and ABSU-BPAC. The group has carried out several attacks in Assam, targeting non-Bodo civilians as well as the security forces. In particular, it has targeted Santhal, Munda and Oraon adivasis, whose ancestors had been brought to Assam as tea labourers during British Raj. Its involvement in attacks on Adivasis during Bodo-Adivasi ethnic clash during the 1996 Assam Legislative Assembly elections led to the formation of Adivasi Cobra Force, a rival militant group. After 1996, NDFB was also involved in conflicts with the militant group Bodo Liberation Tigers Force. Since 2000, NDFB has increasingly targeted Bangladeshi migrants in what it claims to be the Boro territory.
During the 1990s, NDFB established 12 camps on the Bhutan-Assam border. After suffering major reverses during Royal Bhutan Army's Operation All Clear, NDFB signed a ceasefire with the Indian authorities in May 2005.
This was followed by a split in the group: NDFB, the progressive faction supported peace talks with the government, while the faction led by Nabla opposed the talks. In 2012, following the arrest of their chairman, NDFB of Nabla faction split further, leading to the formation of another new faction, which was led by a non-Bodo I. K. Songbijit as an interim president of the interim council. This faction continued to indulge in militancy, and has been blamed by the government for May and December 2014 attacks.
The general assembly of the outfit held on 14 and 15 April 2015 has vowed to revamp their national struggle and declared that the former interim national council of NDFB led by Songbijit is dissolved and a new national council was formed to fight for the liberation of sovereign, independent Boroland.

Objectives

The main grievances of the group are the under-development in the region and the influx of immigrants. It aims to address these issues by seceding from India, and establishing a sovereign Boroland. The NDFB constitution, adopted on 10 March 1998, lists its objectives as the following:
The promotion of the Roman script for the Bodo language is also a significant objective of NDFB and are against the use of Devanagari script for the language.

History

The Bodos are an ethno-linguistic community native to the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam state of India. In the mid-1980s, Bodo politicians, alleging discrimination against Bodos in Assam, intensified their campaign for the creation of Bodo-majority Bodoland. While majority of the Bodos envisaged Bodoland as an autonomous territory or state within India, a small section demanded complete sovereignty. NDFB was formed by secessionist Bodos on 3 October 1986 as the Bodo Security Force, under the leadership of Ranjan Daimary, in Odla Khasibari village. BdSF carried out several violent attacks against non-Bodo civilians. On 12 December 1992, it attacked the 7th Assam Police Battalion headquarters at Choraikhola in Kokrajahar district, and decamped with 160 self-loading rifles and 5 light machine guns.
The Bodoland movement was mainly led by the political organisations All Bodo Students Union and Bodo Peoples' Action Committee. In 1993, these two groups signed the Bodo Accord with Indian government, agreeing to the formation of Bodoland Autonomous Council within Assam. BdSF opposed this Accord. Shortly after the Accord, the Assam State Government refused to hand over 2,750 villages to the proposed Council, arguing that Bodos formed less than 50% of the population in these villages. Following this, the BdSF was renamed to National Democratic Front of Bodoland on 25 November 1994. The NDFB then launched an ethnic cleansing campaign, attacking non-Bodo communities in these villages. During the 1996 Assam Legislative Assembly elections, it killed hundreds of Santhal, Munda and Oraon adivasis, whose ancestors had been brought to Assam as tea labourers during British Raj. In response, the tribals formed Adivasi Cobra Force, their own militant group.
In the mid-1990s, NDFB also faced a rival within the Bodo community, in form of Bodo Liberation Tigers Force. The BLTF had evolved from an older militant group called the Bodo Volunteer Force. It considered NDFB's secessionist agenda unrealistic and unattainable, and focused on establishment of an autonomous Bodo territory within India. After 1996, the two groups clashed violently for supremacy. BLTF allied with Bengali Tiger Force to protect Bengalis from NDFB attacks, and also supported Indian security forces against NDFB. The conflicts between Christian-dominated NDFB and Hindu-dominated BLTF polarised the Bodoland movement along religious lines. In 2003, BLTF surrendered en masse in return for the establishment of the Bodoland Territorial Council.
NDFB had established 12 camps on the Bhutan-Assam border. During 2003-2004, the Royal Bhutan Army destroyed these camps as part of its Operation All Clear. NDFB chief Ranjan Daimary was offered amnesty by the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in December 2003, but rejected the offer. On 8 October 2004, the NDFB announced a six-month-long unilateral ceasefire, that came into effect on 15 October. However, the Government continued its operations against the group. On 15 April 2005, NDFB extended the ceasefire. The Government released its general secretary Govinda Basumatary to open a channel of communication with the organisation's Bangladesh-based leadership. This resulted in a ceasefire agreement between NDFB and the Government on 25 May 2005. 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. The pact came into force on 1 June 2005. However, certain factions of NDFB continued militancy. In May 2006, five members of the security forces were abducted and killed by suspected NDFB members in Assam's Udalguri district. The group also continued to clash with cadres of the ex-BLTF. On 5 June 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 3 June 2007.
In 2008, the group split into two after Ranjan Daimary's name appeared in the 2008 Assam bombings case. NDFB, the pro-talks factions led by B Sungthagra supported peace talks with the governments. NDFB, led by Daimary, refused to give up militancy. In December 2008, the NDFB indicated its plans to indirectly or directly participate the Lok Sabha elections. In 2012, I. K. Songbijit, the chief of the NDFB faction's "Boroland Army", announced the formation of a nine-member "interim national council", resulting in a split. NDFB, the faction led by Songbijit, is now the most dreaded faction. Amit Shah signed a historic peace treaty with factions on NDFB in February 2020.

Splits

After the Operation All Clear in 2003 the then united NDFB decided to go for ceasefire and talk to resolve the political issue in 2004. The proposal was submitted in 2008 and there was a meeting of the joint military council in Manipur. The secretary in the ministry of development of north east region, Naveen Verma, told the general secretary of the outfit that they must amend their proposition instead of negotiation at table or in other words they were forced to revise it, amend it and write a new memorandum.
There would have been no talks and extension of ceasefire unless the proposition was revised and amended which was submitted by the faction now known as National Democratic Front of Boroland - Progressive and the faction led by Ranjan Daimary who rejected it was then known as the Anti-Talks Faction, which further split into two factions.

Leaders

National Council members

Weapons

NDFB have a sizeable number of sophisticated weapons including AK-series rifles. Since they have camps in Myanmar across Arunachal Pradesh, they have easy access to the latest weapons.

Activities

NDFB has carried out bombings, kidnappings and murders in Assam. Due to arm conflict between NDFB and Adivasi Cobra Force, Many times NDFB attacked on Adivasi. The Assam Government has accused it of launching an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Oriya Adivasis and Bengali Muslim settlers in the region.
The group primarily operates in the region to the north and north-west of the Brahmaputra river. It is active in the Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Darrang, Barpeta, Dhubri, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts of Assam. It has also been active in the Garo Hills region of Meghalaya. It has used the neighbouring Bhutan as a refuge, crossing the border in the Manas National Park area. In December 2003, the Royal Bhutan Army initiated a crackdown on the group's activities in Bhutan.
Between 1992 and 2001, the violence involving NDFB resulted in the deaths of 167 security forces personnel and over 1200 civilians:
YearCivilians killed by NDFBSecurity Forces Personnel killed by NDFBNDFB militants killed by the Security Forces
199237101
19932566
1994108226
1995132167
19961762515
19971372531
19983052237
19991131450
20009520109
20011347113

Attacks attributed to NDFB

The attacks attributed to the NDFB include. Some incident don't have evidence but NDFB is believed to be involved.
DatePlaceIncidentReference
1 May 1998AnjoraNDFB militants kill 5 Adivasis
2 May 1998Deoshree, Kokrajhar districtNDFB militants drag 44 Adivasis out of a bus, kill one of them and torture the other 3SATP
3 May 1998near Bishmuri point on NH-31, Kokrajhar districtNDFB militants drag Adivasis out of a bus, and kill 98 of them; four others injuredSATP
9 May 1998Borbil, near GosaigaonNDFB militants kill 16 Santhals Adivasis, including 10 women and two children; 12 others injured
17 June 1998Kokrajhar districtNDFB militants kill four AdivasisSATP
15 September 1998Gossaigaon subdivision, Kokrajhar districtNDFB militants kill 14 SanthalsSATP
31 July 2000SoonmariNDFB militants blow up two bogies of a Rangia-bound passenger train, killing 14 passengersSATP
1 August 2000near TezpurNDFB militants explode a bomb on a passenger train, killing 12 peopleSATP
21 August 2000DhubriNDFB militants kill 5 Muslim civiliansSATP
19 August 2000GuwahatiNDFB kills Bineshwar Brahma, branding him an agent of the BJP-led Central government. Brahma was opposed to the adoption of the Roman script for the Bodo language, which had invited the ire of NDFB.
21 August 2000GaragaonNDFB militants kill the Bodo MLA Mohini Basumatary of the People's Democratic Front
8 November 2000Barpeta districtSuspected NDFB militants kill 8 civilians, including 7 non-Assamese people
26 November 2000Lung Sung forest reserveNDFB kills 8 woodcutters who refused to obey their order to stop logging in Bodo areasSATP
3 January 2001AssamNDFB militants kill woodcutters
31 July 2001SoonmariNDFB militants detonate a bomb on a Rangiya-bound passenger train, killing 14
1 August 2001near RangiaNDFB militants detonate a bomb on the Arunachal Express between Rangia and Goreswar stations, killing 12 and injuring 8. Two NDFB militants suspected to be involved in the blast were killed in a police encounter near Goreswar.
25 September 2001Baghmari, Bongaigaon districtNDFB bomb blast derails the North East Express, injuring 100 peopleSATP
25 October 2001GauripurNDFB militants detonate an explosive at a Hindu celebration, killing 3 and injuring 12
7 December 2001AssamOpposed to logging in the region, NDFB militants kill 4 woodcutters in two separate incidents
2 June 2002Bongshijhora village, Dhburi districtNDFB militants kill 3 members of a family
14 July 2003Kokrajhar districtNDFB militants kill 3 people in separate incidents
24 November 2003Khanglabari, Darrang districtNDFB militants kill 3 Biharis, and injure 9 others
8 July 2010Gossaigaon, Kokrajhar districtNDFB militants blast railway tracks, resulting in derailment of the Kolkata-bound Garib Rath Express. A six-year-old child Durlav Sethia was killed, and 23 others were injured. The NDFB stated that the attack was a revenge for the mistreatment of its arrested leader Ranjan Daimary and the killing of "innocent Bodo youths" by the security forces.
14 July 2002West Maligaon forest village relief camps, Kokrajhar districtSspected NDFB militants kill 9 Adivasis, injure 5 othersSATP
17 August 2002near Sarbhog, Barpeta districtNDFB militants kill a school teacherSATP
21 August 2002Maladhara, Goalpara districtNDFB militants kill four police personnel and a civilian driver, injure 17 moreSATP
23 October 2002Deosankar Reserve Forest, Dhubri districtNDFB militants fire on a group of two woodcutters, killing two
27 October 2002Datgiri village, Kokrahjar districtNDFB militants kill 22 civiliansSATP
29 August 2010Gamani, near BhalukpongNDFB militants kidnap two goods train drivers Nirmal Chandra Borgohain and Abhijit Siring Phukan, demand 10 million as ransom
26 April 2003Taijouguri village, Kokrajhar districtSuspected NDFB militants kill 4 members of the family of a former colleagueSATP
18 July 2003Dwimguri village, Kokrajhar districtNDFB militants kill 4 persons they suspect to be government informersSATP
2 October 2004Makrijhora, Dhubri districtNDFB militants open indiscriminate firing at a busy market, killing 16 people and injuring 20 othersSATP
4 October 2004Gelapukhuri village, Sonitpur districtNDFB militants kill six civilians, injure 7 othersSATP
5 October 2004Jalabila village, Dhubri districtSuspected NDFB militants shoot dead 10 civilians, injure 7 othersSATP
1 December 2004Lutubari, West Garo Hills, MeghalayaNDFB militants kill 5 villagers and injure anotherSATP
21 May 2007Udalguri districtNDFB cadres abduct five security force personnel and a civilian. The civilian Babul Kalita was found dead on 22 May. The other five were found dead in the Belsiri Nala on 29 May.SATP
16 March 2008Dhaolabari Ashuline, near KokrajharNDFB militants shoot dead Bigrai Basumatary alias Belaibe, the secretary of the surrendered NDFB Welfare AssociationSATP
30 October 2008Guwahati and neighbouring areas2008 Assam bombings: NDFB cadres were suspected to have executed the attacks planned by ULFA and other groups.SATP
30 June 2009Naharani Grant village, Sontipur districtNDFB militants shoot dead four persons of a family: Munna Pal, his wife Subhapati Pal, his younger brother Tunna Pal and his son Pankaj Pal SATP
4 October 2009BhimajuliNDFB-ATF kills 12 people in Bhimajuli massacre
8–9 November 2010AssamNDFB-ATF militants kill 22 people in separate attacks. On 8 November, the militants killed 19 people, including 13 Hindi speakers. Several others were injured, one of whom died the next day. The next day, they killed two Hindi-speaking Muslims in Ultapani, Kokrajhar district, and a cycle mechanic Paran Mandal in Chirang district. Earlier on 1 November, the NDFB had threatened to kill 20 or more people for every NDFB cadre killed by Security Forces.SATP
14 March 2011Between Bangladoba and Ultapani The militants of the Ranjan Daimary-led faction ambush patrolling troop of BSF, killing 8 jawans.
13 August 2012Chirang districtNDFB-RD militants shoot dead a Muslim labourer, and injure three others. The four victims were natives of West Bengal, and were returning from Bhutan.SATP
13 November 2012Harishinga, Sonitpur districtNDFB-RD militants kill a tea planter Adilur Rahman, and injure his bodyguard Motilal TirkeySATP
27 January 2014Mauriapur village, Sonitpur districtNDFB-S militants ambush a police convoy, killing ASP Gulzar Hussain and injuring 5 other policemen. The police convoy was returning from a night-long operation against the group.SATP
May 2014Kokrajhar and Baksa districtsMay 2014 Assam violence: 32 Muslims were killed in a series of attacks. The government blamed NDFB-Songbijit faction for the attacks. The NDFB denied any involvement in the killings, and stated that the government agencies were behind the attacks.
August 2014Chirang districtA 16-year-old girl was dragged, beaten and shot at point blank range at least nine times in front of her parents
December 2014Sontipur and Kokrajhar districtsDecember 2014 Assam violence: NDFB militants killed over 65 Adivasis. According to police, this was in response to the intensified operation by the security forces.
August 2016Assam2016 Kokrajhar shooting: A group of militants opened fire at a market in Balajan Tiniali, near the town of Kokrajhar in Assam, India.Fourteen people were killed and sixteen were injured as a result of the attack. NDFB is believed to be involved in this case.

Disbanding

NDFB disbanded itself at two locations in accordance with a clause in Memorandum of Settlement signed by the four factions and the other stakeholders with the Indian Government on 27 January 2020. While disbanding, the NDFB leader Gobinda Basumatry said "To find a solution to political, economic, social and cultural issues of Bodo people, the Bodo Security Force was formed in 1986. It was renamed as NDFB in 1994. Our fight has finally come to an end after 34 years of armed struggle within and outside the country... from Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan. We believe that the NDFB movement has been a successful one and so we are disbanding the group."