Bodo leader ready for unconditional talks

GUWAHATI - The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) is ready for unconditional peace talks with New Delhi and even keep the demand for sovereignty or independence out of the process, chief of the outlawed outfit Ranjan Daimary has said.

We are ready to discuss any issue and even leave the issue of sovereignty out of the talks, the jailed NDFB chairman said in an interview telecast by a local satellite TV channel.

Daimary is in jail in the eastern Assam town of Nagaon after he was captured by Bangladesh in May this year and then handed over to India.

The NDFB is blamed for the October 2008 serial explosions in Assam in which about 100 people were killed and more than 400 injured - the Central Bureau of Investigation probing the explosions had named Daimary as the main accused in terror attacks.

We wanted to send a message to the Indian government (and so carried out the serial blasts) but we never thought so many innocent people would die, the NDFB terror leader said.

The NDFB is now split into two factions - the group led by Gobinda Basumatary has been in a ceasefire mode with New Delhi since 2005.

The NDFB chairman said the outfit in the past carried out several bank robberies in Assam with the help of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).

“We had decamped with about Rs.6 million from three banks in Assam with the help of NSCN-IM,” Daimary said.

Daimary’s statement about giving up the demand of sovereignty and willing to negotiate peace with the central government has been welcomed.

We welcome the statement of the NDFB chairman to hold peace talks by giving up the sovereignty demand, Chanakya Brahma, leader of the Bodoland Citizens Forum, said.