Dibrugarh, March 5: Freedom after 12 long years perhaps tasted a little better with the heart-warming mass support that senior Ulfa leader Pradip Gogoi received today when he returned home in Upper Assam’s Sivasagar district.

Gogoi, who was arrested from New Market in central Calcutta in 1998, was released from Guwahati Central Jail on Thursday evening.

A sea of people gathered to welcome Gogoi home where he arrived this afternoon after setting out from Guwahati at 3am in a 14-vehicle cavalcade with around 100 people.

Before stepping into his ancestral village at Baksu Moutgaon, the Ulfa vice-chairman paid a visit to the Rangghar where the outfit was born on April 7, 1979.

Biswajeet Tipomia, a resident of Lakwa in Sivasagar district who was in Gogoi’s cavalcade, said the Ulfa leader was greeted by people and various organisations from Nagaon, Bokakhat, Dergaon, Jorhat and Jhanji. “Though initially, Gogoi did not wish to stop and wanted to reach home as soon as possible, he had to respond to people’s blessings,” he said.

As the Ulfa leader’s convoy entered Sivasagar, thousands of people stood along the way and greeted him with gamochas and flowers.

Several temporary gates were erected right from Guwahati to his native village.

Standing in front of Rangghar, Gogoi nostalgically recalled the early days of Ulfa.

“Ulfa, as a organisation, faced many challenges since its inception. We lost many of our comrades in the process, my heart-filled condolences to all the family members who lost their near and dear ones during the long-drawn conflict between Ulfa and the Indian Occupational Forces,” he said, amidst thunderous applause from the thousands of people who had gathered at the site.

Later, Gogoi told reporters that he had always maintained that for fruitful talks between the Ulfa leadership and the government, the Centre would have to show its sincerity.

“It is high time that the Centre respects the sentiments of the people of Assam and comes forward for talks. For that, unconditional release of all jailed leaders may be the first step,” he said.