Avik Chakraborty

DIBRUGARH, Aug 15: The family members of ULFA-I chief Paresh Baruah are hopeful that Paresh Baruah will return to the mainstream for peace talks.

Talking to this correspondent, Bimal Barua, elder brother of Paresh Baruah, said, “We are hopeful that Paresh Baruah will return to mainstream for peace talks. The central government and state government have been trying hard to bring back Paresh Baruah into peace talks.”

“We have nothing to do with ULFA-I boycott of Independence Day. We are Indians and we follow Indian Constitution and we celebrate Independence Day. We have nothing to do with them. Their constitution is different but we are proud Indian. Now things have changed and lots of development works have happened,” he added.

Like every year, this year too the ULFA-I has called for boycott of Independence Day, but ancestral village of ULFA-I chief Jerigaon, situated in Chabua, will celebrate the Independence Day.

“Every year we hoist national flag at our school because we have to do it because it is a national celebration. For last 10-15 years we are regularly hoisting national flag at our school. Earlier, things were different but now the concept has changed and people have started to celebrate the Independence Day. We will hold a programme on the Independance Day at our school. After hoisting the flag, the school children will organise a rally with the national flag,” said Dilip Baruah, headmaster of Bogdung Porishromi LP school.

Sunil Mout, village headman of Digalibari village and four other village, said, “Every year we celebrate Independence Day and Republic Day in our village because it is government instruction. Now things have changed, people comes out willingly and hoist national flag in their home and schools. We have nothing to do with ULFA-I boycott of Independence Day. We are born to this land and we are proud Indians.”

“During operation Bajrang, encounter happened in our village and some youths have died. Our village people have faced lots of atrocities in the hands of security personnel and most of the youths were branded as ULFA. But now, things have changed and the perception of people towards the village have changed drastically. National level footballer Babul Phukan belongs to our village and we are proud of him,” he further recalled.

Bikul Baruah, headmaster of Jeria Chakalibharia LP school and younger brother of Paresh Baruah, said, “We will hoist national flag at our school as per the direction of the government. Every year we celebrate Independence Day because it is a National Day for us. We have nothing to do with ULFA-I boycott, we will celebrate the day as usual.”

When asked about ULFA-I chief Paresh Baruah returning to mainstream for peace talks, he said, “We are hopeful that he will return to mainstream for peace talks. For last several years, violence has decreased in Assam and everyone wants peace.”

Read: Sonowal participates in ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ event in Dibrugarh

WATCH:

Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.

Also, Follow us on-

Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub

Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020

Instagram- www.instagram.com/ne_media_hub

Download our app from playstore – Northeast Media Hub