HarperCollins presents ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn by Rajeev Bhattacharyya

vandana.rathore@harpercollins.co.in | 29 November 2023

HarperCollins

presents

ULFA

The Mirage of Dawn

by Rajeev Bhattacharyya

ULFA is the never-before-told story of the outlawed separatist outfit from its inception in the early 1980s to the present.

Intensely researched and grippingly narrated, Rajeev Bhattacharyya’s in-depth investigation into the heart of ULFA includes exclusive interviews with over- and underground functionaries in India’s Northeast, Myanmar and Bangladesh 

Non-fiction | Politics | Paperback | 432 pp | Rs 599

Available wherever books are sold | Releasing 1^st Dec 2023

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‘This is a careful, granular and informative study of the origins and evolution of the United Liberation Front of Asom. The work provides suitable political context, is nuanced in its judgement and avoids making sweeping claims. Those interested in the emergence and role of this critical political movement in a vital state in India’s long-troubled northeast will benefit much from a careful perusal of this volume.’

—Prof. Sumit Ganguly, Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

‘This book presents gripping details about the rise and fall of ULFA, intertwined with the roles (at telling moments) of Pakistan, China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh.’

—Veena Sikri, former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh

Author, Rajeev Bhattacharyya, says, “ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn is based on extensive field research for over a decade, as well as monographs authored by ULFA functionaries and interviews with officers engaged in counter-insurgency operations. The seed of this book lies in an assignment I got in 2011-12 to interview the outfit’s elusive chief, Paresh Baruah, at Taga in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region, which took me almost four months to accomplish. Much of the information in this book is exclusive, sheds new light on several episodes in ULFA’s history and debunks many interpretations of the outfit that have gained currency over the years. This book is of value to researchers, policy planners and anybody who wishes to know about insurgency in Assam and the Northeast and its overseas linkages.”

Associate Publisher, Swati Chopra, says, “ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn is a daring work of investigative journalism, where the author goes deep undercover — in history as much as the jungles he writes about — to excavate the true story of one of the most dangerous separatist organisations of contemporary India. The result is a definitive book that is as much about the organisation as it is about the politics, the times and the social conditions that gave rise to it”

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About the Book

Cross-border connections make the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) unique in the annals of insurgency in India, second only to the LTTE in South Asia in terms of how vast the international network created to sustain its separatist campaign is—from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China.

ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn is the never-before-told story of the outlawed separatist outfit from its inception in the early 1980s to the present, when peace is being negotiated between a faction led by Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and the Indian government. The book delves into all the major episodes, delineates their causes and effects, and debunks interpretations about the movement that have gained currency over the years.

Rajeev Bhattacharyya’s in-depth investigation into the heart of ULFA includes exclusive interviews with over- and underground functionaries in India’s Northeast, Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as with former army and police officers who were engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast. Intensely researched and grippingly narrated, this book brings the unknown story of ULFA to readers for the first time.

About the Author

Rajeev Bhattacharyya is a senior journalist, analyst and author based in Guwahati. He has written three books—Rendezvous with Rebels (2014), Lens and the Guerrilla (2012), Paresh Baruahr Sandhanat (Assamese, 2013)—and five academic papers on ULFA before this. He is a regular columnist on the Northeast for The Diplomat, The Irrawaddy, The Quint, Firstpost and Moneycontrol. Earlier, he worked for The Times of India, The Indian Express, Times Now and The Telegraph, and he was the founding executive editor of the Seven Sisters Post in Guwahati. He is an alumnus of Hansraj College and the Department of History, University of Delhi. He was a Chevening Fellow (2004–05) at the University of Westminster, London.

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For reviews, excerpts, interviews, and more information, please contact Vandana Rathore at
vandana.rathore@harpercollins.co.in