With is top leader Ranjan Daimary holed up in jail after his arrest in Bangladesh last year, the anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland is sending out feelers about its willingness to hold dialogue with the government and restore a peaceful atmosphere in the state.
The influential All Bodo Students' Union has given an August 13 ultimatum to communicate a date for holding tripartite dialogue on the union's demand for a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam.
After several days of intensive statehood agitation by various ethnic communities, the situation in Assam limped back to normalcy on Wednesday. Trains services were restored while movement of vehicles including trucks carrying essential commodities resumed on the highways connecting the Assam and the Northeast to the rest of the country.
In his last column for Rediff.com, Praful Bidwai joins issues with those lauding India's covert operation against Naga rebels based in Myanmarese territory.