SUMMARY
NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) is a violent insurgent group operating in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. The group was founded in 1986, and was at its founding called the BdSF (Bodo Security Force), with NDFB being only the political wing of the main BdSF movement. The movement as a whole was rechristened somewhere between 1993 and 1995 (depending on the source), and since the organisation has been referred to as NDFB.
NDFB is primarily made up of Christian members of the Bodo-Kachari ethnic group, claimed to be the earliest inhabitants of present-day Assam. The Bodo ethnic group is of tribal origin (comprised of several sub-tribal groups), having their main settlements in the plains of Assam north of the Brahmaputra River, which flows through the entirety of the state of Assam. NDFB seeks to establish an independent sovereign state in these areas for the Bodo people, claiming like other tribal groups in India’s northeast that Bodoland was never a part of India and was forcefully incorporated into the Indian union at independence. The main political grievances of the general Bodo population relate however to perceived cultural and political neglect and discrimination, economical underdevelopment and issues of land expropriation by immigrants. Much like the majority population of Assam (the Ahoms) the Bodos have been put under severe pressure by the massive influx of Bengali Hindu and Moslem immigrants/refugees fleeing the Indo-Pakistani partition war in 1971. The Bodos however also nourish grievances towards the ethnic Assamese, whom they feel are also infringing on the Bodos’ lands, political power and culture. Issues of ethnic dominance are therefore high on the NDFB agenda. Attacks on non-tribals and immigrants to this end are one of the factors that make for the NDFB’s inclusion in the one-sided category of UCDP violence.
The forerunner to NDFB was ABSU (All Bodo Students’ Union), with which NDFB had links in its early stages of evolution. ABSU however gave up its armed struggle after the establishment of the Bodo Autonomous Council (BAC) in 1993, which was designed to give the Bodos autonomous rule. The more extreme NDFB however renounced this accord and continued its struggle against non-tribal and immigrant elements as well as other Bodo rebel and political groups that do not agree with its agenda (such as the Bodo Liberation Tiger Force). Another accord concerning Bodoland was signed in 2003, but NDFB did not adhere to this accord either. NDFB is particularly active in the districts of Bongaigon, Kokrajhar, Darrang, Barpeta, Dhubri and Sonitpur, all districts that are crossed by the Brahmaputra River.
At its peak NDFB was comprised of possibly up to 3 500 militants, many of them located in camps in Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The porous borders between India and these states allowed for NDFB to find sanctuary and the necessary training facilities in bases set up in the aforementioned countries. To what degree the governments of Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar are complicit in these activities is however in dispute. Bhutan however ousted the mainstay of NDFB’s bases from its soil in 2003-2004, whilst bases in Bangladesh and Myanmar appear to persist. NDFB is also accused of having links to the Pakistan intelligence services, having received aid from this source. NDFB’s main sources of funding are otherwise said to be extortion, looting and the illegal garnering of ‘taxes’.
As is the case with the majority of insurgent groups in India’s northeast NDFB maintains relationships with other rebel outfits. It has especially strong links with ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam), with which the group has had operational links and battlefield cooperation. NDFB has also collaborated with the Isak Muivah faction of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland, receiving training, intelligence and safe havens. Some sources also point to links to the Maoists in Nepal, and CNLA (Chin National Liberation Army) in Myanmar. Inside Assam NDFB is thought to make use of PDP (People’s Democratic Party) as a political front to contest democratic elections, and has reportedly used coercive tactics against rival political parties in the state to further this cause. Such links are however not completely clear.
NDFB was founded by one Rajan Daimary, who leads the outfit as its Chairman. He is sometimes referred to by his alias, D R Nabla. During the time period between 2002-2004 many of the group’s top leaders were arrested, and the replacements remain largely unknown.
NDFB has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
