Confronting the State : ULFA's Quest for Sovereignty

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) marks a new saga of armed rebellion in North East India. The book Confronting the State: ULFA's Quest for Sovereignty examines the complex nuances and dynamics that have gone into the making of ULFA as one of the most formidable armed organizations in the country. It argues that while perceiving the phenomenon of insurgency, one has to understand the genesis of conflict between the Indian State and the North East right from the very inception of the nation-state. The author claims that the ideological and identity issues between India and Assam have remained unresolved and ULFA is a manifestation of that unresolved crisis. The book also attempts to raise certain larger issues of democracy, citizenship, representation, ethnicity, sovereignty and nation-state building that have implications for the whole country. The author is of the opinion that the durable peace in the North East would largely depend on Assam-as the state is the reference point for all the identity movements of the region.