Ranjan Daimary (centre)

Kokrajhar, May 14: As the end of another term of Delhi’s ceasefire with the National Democratic Front of Boroland approaches, both sides are back to playing pass-the-buck for the delay in starting a dialogue.

“India is just talking about our charter of demands and setting dates time and again. Setting deadlines for us to submit the so-called charter of demands is tantamount to intimidation,” NDFB chief Ranjan Daimary, alias D.R. Nabla, said in an email to The Telegraph.

Had Delhi been sincere and honest, it would have started “political talks” by now, he added.

The militant leader interpreted the May 31 deadline set by the government for the NDFB to place its “charter of demands” as a warning that there would henceforth be “no more extension of the ceasefire”.

Daimary’s salvo at Delhi coincided with a statement by NDFB spokesman S. Sanjarang, accusing security forces of maligning the outfit’s image by dragging its name into the abduction of Food Corporation of India executive director P.C. Ram.

“It is nothing but part of a conspiracy to destabilise and disrupt the peaceful situation in the area and derail the peace process,” he said.

The spokesman also accused security personnel, including Assam police, of “harassing Bodo civilians by raiding villages in Baksa and Udalguri” and “deliberately avoiding Ulfa’s hiding places”.

Daimary’s email focused on Delhi’s allegedly dictatorial attitude.

“We have declared a ceasefire to resolve the Indo-Bodo conflict peacefully and democratically. If India does not want to resolve the conflict peacefully and democratically, what can we do? We will have no other option but to continue our protracted guerrilla war for freedom. India should not expect us to be good Indians and obey whatever it dictates. Let India prove its sincerity and honesty by resolving political conflicts with the NSCN (both factions), United People’s Democratic Solidarity, Dima Halam Daogah and the Achik National Volunteers’ Council,” he said.

The NDFB chief said his outfit would place its “charter of demands or memorandum or written statements or whatever it may be called” before the government “at an appropriate time and not according to India’s wishes”.

On land rights and delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, two issues that have kept the pot boiling in recent weeks, Daimary said the accord signed by the disbanded Bodo Liberation Tigers with Delhi and Dispur took away “whatever little rights the Bodos had over their ancestral land”.

“Now, in the name of delimitation, India is trying to take away our right to representation. India wants to make the Bodo heartland a nation without representation,” the militant leader added.