Assam: NDFB(R) Chief Ranjan Daimary tests COVID-19 positive

Former NDFB Chief Ranjan Daimary tests positive for COVID-19. He has since been taken into the hospital from Guwahati Central Jail, Assam.

The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) was an armed separatist outfit which seeks to obtain a sovereign Boroland for the Bodo people. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by the Government of India.

NDFB traces its origin to Bodo Security Force, a militant group formed in 1986. The current name was adopted in 1994, after the group rejected Bodo Accord signed between the Government of India and ABSU-BPAC in Assam.

After 1996, NDFB was also involved in conflicts with the militant group Bodo Liberation Tigers Force (which surrendered in 2003). Since 2000, NDFB has increasingly targeted Bangladeshi migrants in what it claims to be the Boro territory.

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During the 1990s, NDFB established 12 camps on the Bhutan Assam border. After suffering major reverses during Royal Bhutan Army's Operation All Clear, NDFB signed a ceasefire with the Indian authorities in May 2005.

This was followed by a split in the group: NDFB(P), the progressive faction supported peace talks with the government, while the faction led by Nabla opposed the talks. In 2012, following the arrest of their chairman, NDFB of Nabla faction split further, leading to the formation of another new faction, which was led by a non-Bodo I. K. Songbijit as an interim president of the interim council. This faction continued to indulge in militancy, and has been blamed by the government for May and December 2014 attacks in Assam.

The general assembly of the outfit held on 14 and 15 April 2015 has vowed to revamp their national struggle and declared that the former interim national council of NDFB led by Songbijit is dissolved and a new national council was formed to fight for the liberation of sovereign, independent Bodoland in Assam.

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