Guwahati: The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) has urged people to observe Assam Bandh on August 15 in place of Independence Day.
The bandh was declared by the ULFA during the hours from midnight of August 14 till 6 pm of August 15.
However, according to a joint statement from ULFA-I, NSCN, and GPRN, the emergency services, media, and religious occasions have been excused from the bandh.
Moreover, after 40 years, the ULFA-I, led by Paresh Baruah, declared last year that they would no longer boycott or call for a bandh on Independence Day. Once again, the bandh was announced for this year by the outlawed terrorist group.
However, the group expressed opposition to the Independence Day celebrations in Assam, claiming that the state “never a part of colonial India.”
However, in a press release, the group referenced Section 2 of the Treaty of Yandaboo, which Burma and the East India Company signed on February 24, 1826.
According to the second article of the treaty, which was accepted by Burma and the East India Company, Assam’s sovereignty was not transferred to British India, the organisation claimed in a statement.