Exclusive: Surrendered NDFB Cadre S Daimary Shares His Story with Inside Northeast

Guwahati, July 30, 2019:

An ex-NDFB cadre called S Daimary has written about his experiences with the separatist outfit, and how he left the armed struggle behind and rejoined mainstream society. His story sheds light on the leads youths from the Northeast to leave their families behind and take up arms.

Daimary writes that in his years of struggle, he got to know the real meaning of struggle and means to conquer hardship and mend his own path with righteousness.

The cadre S Daimary writes that he was born and brought up at a small village near Rangapara under Sonitpur district of Assam. Since my childhood days, he witnessed agony of hardship faced by one and all in my society due to lack of infrastructure and the "suppression" of the Bodo community.

As he grew older and entered his teenage years, he was manipulated into joining the underground militant group NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) and believed that violence was the only way and his story takes a grim turn here.

"I was also made to believe that development of our society is possible only when Bodoland is identified as separate state" he adds, and says he joined NDFB in the year 2009. He was trained at different camps in Bangladesh and Udalguri, but soon saw that the militant groups were only serving their own benefits.

After realizing that he was being used as a puppet by the militants, he quit. "In the year 2013, I got an opportunity to flee and surrender before Assam Police at Udalgiri, which I did", he says.

Step by baby step, he was soon able to earn a living and started a small business with monetary assistance received from an officer of Indian Army. "When I was there at the NDFB Camp, we were made to believe that Indian Army is the enemy of our community as they harass and kill our people. After receiving financial support in dire need, I realised my mistake", he says.

However, troubles started anew for the surrendered militant when he started receiving death threats for reaching out to other cadres of the outfit, calling for truce.

He fled to other states and lost all his worldly possessions. "Again, I received some monetary help from the Indian Army, to set up my business and am now earning handsome money to look after my family. Apart from assistance from government, under various schemes. Some of them are getting contracts from or work as assistant under Contractors in road construction and infrastructure development of our society. Being part of such projects make us feel the reality of contribution in real uprising of society.

Daimary's parting words are poignant, and he says that  "the ailment of society cannot be curbed with armed revolution or by violence".

He says that his journey can become an inspiration for other cadres to join mainstream of society and also for others to understand the reality of such outfits. "My journey from aliment to alignment with society is a memory worth cherishing always", he adds, and thus ends the bittersweet story of the surrendered NDFB man.

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