Undoubtedly, There is a Case for Political Engagement With The People. But This Can Happen Only When the Ruling Parties Look Beyond Winning Elections

Rajeev Bhattacharyya, author of ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn

What was the process of researching for this book like? What kind of challenges did you face? Were there any anxious moments? Close calls?

My focus was on gathering information from ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) leaders and functionaries, and officers engaged in counter-insurgency operations. This was possible through direct interviews, published and unpublished diaries of ULFA functionaries and memoirs of some officers. I realised quite early that the research would be incomplete without interviewing Paresh Baruah, the elusive chief of staff of ULFA, which I successfully accomplished after a covert 110-day assignment to Taga in Myanmar’s Sagaing region in 2011-12. I have narrated this journey in my previous book Rendezvous With Rebels: Journey to Meet India’s Most Wanted Men published in 2014. After returning from the assignment, I went about the task of interviewing as many people as possible spanning almost 11 years. Besides Myanmar, I had to visit Bhutan, Bangladesh, Delhi, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh to gather information. Many of these trips proved futile.

There were many challenges I faced during the research. The first was about the origins of the movement as there were different interpretations. The second was to convince many people including ULFA functionaries and government officials to provide me with information. Here I must admit that I had a natural advantage since my father was an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. Many senior police and intelligence officers had served under my father, and I developed a rapport with them very soon. The third was to find answers to questions on many tricky episodes for a clearer narrative and I failed on many. I was also unsuccessful in gathering many documents and photographs published by ULFA in the Eighties and Nineties as most of them had been destroyed.

There was one episode in 2011 when I was trekking in the hills of Myanmar’s Sagaing region en route to the ULFA camp in Taga when I had a close brush with death. I slipped, tumbled and fell from a cliff. I thought I would be dead. Fortunately, I landed on a bed of shrubs and grass and suffered slight injuries below my left eye. This was a providential escape from death. I had also received a veiled threat from a senior IPS officer in Assam, a cold-blooded killer who has killed many innocent people. But I knew how to tackle such threats and he was on the backfoot very soon.

Since you interacted both with the underground and the overground, were you ever approached by the state agencies for cooperation? If yes, how did you tackle the situation?

I have been approached by almost all security agencies for information. But my answer to them was straight and simple on every occasion: Please r