Arabinda Rajkhowa
| Arabinda Rajkhowa | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Rajib Rajkonwar 1956 Ujoni Konwargaon, Sibsagar, Assam |
| Other names | Mijanur Rahman Choudhury |
| Criminal charge | Waging war against India, Abduction, murder, commission of terrorist acts and disruptive acts. |
| Criminal status | Arrested |
| Spouse(s) | Kaveri Kachari |
| Children | Kanchan Bohagi Rajkonwar (Daughter) Gadadhar (Son) |
| Parent(s) | Umakanta Rajkonwar (Father) Damayanti Rajkonwar (Mother) |
Arabinda Rajkhowa (Assamese: (real name Rajiv Rajkonwar), alias Mijanur Rahman Choudhury, is the Chairman of the banned group ULFA. He is one of the founder members of the group. He was also the Vice-President of the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front. He was a leader of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), a radical students' group in Assam, before he founded ULFA.
He was born to freedom fighter Umakanta Rajkonwar and Damayanti Rajkonwar, ardent followers of Mahatma Gandhi, in 1956 in Ujani Konwargaon under Simaluguri in Sibsagar. By profession, he was a schoolteacher. He is said to be a soft-spoken and is fluent in nearly half a dozen languages.
In the late 1990s, Rajkhowa married Kaveri Kachari, a budding poet of that time. They had to spend the initial days of their marriage in jungles of Assam and Bhutan. They have two children Kanchan Bohagi Rajkonwar (Daughter) and Gadadhar (Son).
On late Monday night, 30 November 2009, Bangladesh Police arrested Rajkhowa somewhere near Dhaka. He has been handed over to the Indian authorities. Meanwhile, according to North East TV channel, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa claimed that reports of his arrest were aimed at creating confusion and derailing the peace process in Assam. "I am speaking to you from the same location in Bangladesh where I normally speak from. Those who say that I have been arrested are deliberately trying to create confusion. They want to derail the peace process in Assam even before it can begin," he reportedly told North East TV channel. But intelligence sources claim Rajkhowa had surrendered to Indian security forces in Agartala and was taken to New Delhi by a flight on late Wednesday. On December 5, 2009, Rajkhowa along with his bodyguard Raja Baruah and the group's deputy C-in-CRaju Baruah were produced before Robin Phukan, the chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup.
Rajkhowa rubbished police's claim that they had surrendered. “We have not surrendered, we will never surrender", he cleared his stand as they were produced in court before Robin Phukan, the chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup. They emerged as heroes among the crowd for having denied their surrender. They got the biggest boost when public encouraged them not to surrender shouting - "Surrender nokoribo" (Do not surrender). The leader obliged the crowd saying "surrender nokoru moi (I will never surrender)”. “If I would have surrendered then I would not have been brought to the court handcuffed,” he said. The crowd filled up the air with slogans like "ULFA Zindabad" and "Rajkhowa Zindabad" (Long live ULFA & Long live Rajkhowa) the moment they appeared in the court premise.
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Wikipedia