In what has created sensation across the state, a government school teacher and short-story writer Jahanvi Mahanta Rajkonwar has deserted her family — her husband and two children — to join the Ulfa.
On February 13, when Ms Mahnata did not return from her usual school duty, her husband Shantanu Mahanta and children decided to go the police but soon were shocked to discover a handwritten letter by Ms Mahnata from the kitchen, revealing her decision of joining the Ulfa.
In the letter, which the family handed over to police, Ms Mahanta claimed, “It was neither sudden nor an emotional decision but a well thought off plan. I felt the necessity of contributing myself for the ongoing movement for the independence of Assam.”
She also clarified that her family members were not involved in her decision of joining the Ulfa.
A resident of Milanpur area of Naharkatia in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district, Ms Mahanta was teaching at Naharkatia Government Girls’ School.
The security agencies, which also confirmed her joining the Ulfa, claimed that she was on her way to Burma. Informing that she was not the only one and that there are close to 30 graduate college students who joined the Ulfa in the past couple of months, authoritative security sources told this newspaper that Ms Mahanta was in touch with the Ulfa for the past several months.
Revealing that Ms Mahanta will be taken to the mobile military headquarters of the Ulfa at Taga in Burma, security sources said that her recruitment was aimed at countering the propaganda of the security agencies that only “unemployed and school dropouts” are joining the Ulfa.