Guwahati/Jorhat, May 16: The militant Ulfa has stuck its neck out to criticise the increase in tea auction brokerage as a “sinister design” to cripple the industry.

“A new blueprint has been prepared by the foreign capitalist groups to curb the tea industry of Asom by manipulating a hike in buyers’ brokerage at Guwahati Tea Auction Centre,” the group said in its mouthpiece, Freedom.

Ulfa militants have always targeted the tea industry for extortion, but this is the first known instance of the group expressing concern over any policy decision affecting the sector. The Ulfa newsletter accused the tea industry of not caring for the welfare of the labour community.

Describing the Tea Board as “big associates of Indian colonists”, it questioned the wisdom behind raising brokerage at a time when Assam’s tea produce had “regained its previous rate” in the international market. “We appeal to the people of Asom to take a strong stand against this conspiracy,” it said.

Sources in the industry viewed the statement as a ploy to justify the group’s renewed extortion campaign.

The Ulfa reaction comes days after it missed a deadline set by the AGP to prove its allegations against party MLA Pradip Hazarika.

In Amguri, where suspected Ulfa militants recently made an attempt on the life of the constituency’s new legislator, AGP activists have readied for an agitation against the group from tomorrow.

The Amguri unit of the AGP had given the militant group 72 hours to prove the involvement of Hazarika, who was wounded in an ambush on May 9, in the “secret killings” that had rocked Assam between 1996 and 2001.

Days before the ambush, Ulfa had named Hazarika and some AGP colleagues as co-conspirators in the killings. Several of the victims in these incidents ? referred to as “secret killings” because the culprits were never caught ? were family members of Ulfa activists.

Scores of AGP workers in Amguri constituency, wrested by Hazarika from Congress leader Anjan Dutta, had tonsured their heads after the attack on their leader and warned of a campaign against Ulfa if it failed to prove the allegations. The first phase of the proposed agitation will begin tomorrow.

Suspected Ulfa militants had ambushed Hazarika while he was returning home along with some aides from a village on the constituency.