In what may snowball into a major controversy, the Union home ministry has sanctioned and disbursed an amount of about `2 crores to outlawed Ulfa rebels as daily expenses for two months during the elections in Assam. Disclosing that the home ministry disbursed the amount to the Ulfa leaders, including “chairman” Arabinda Rajkhowa and vice-president Pradip Gogoi through the state government just before the polling was held in Assam, an authoritative security source told this newspaper that proposal for financial assistance to Ulfa was moved by the Gogoi government to which home ministry endorsed without any delay.
The financial assistance has been given to take care of daily expenses of Ulfa cadres and their family members. Clarifying that an amount of `2 crores has been sanctioned for two months only, home ministry sources said that the Gogoi government has also suggested that new government which is expected to take over the offices after May 13 would be taking further decision on exact size of financial assistance to the Ulfa cadres. The pro-talk faction of Ulfa, which sought this financial assistance from the state government, also claimed to have the strength of more than 400 cadres, holding ceasefire with the government.
The outfit also claimed that these Ulfa cadres who joined the peace-process on their call, deserting the anti-talk faction of Ulfa headed by Paresh Baruah, are living in various designated camps.
The home ministry sources, which blamed the state government for moving proposal during the elections, however claimed that the state government had taken the approval of the Election Commission before disbursing the financial assistance to the Ulfa leaders during the elections.
It is significant that outlawed NDFB rebels had refused to take any financial assistance from the government during the ceasefire.