A Suspect Brew

THE year: 1990. The place: a tea estate in Dibrugarh. The occasion: a meeting of tea industry captains with the top brass of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The turmoil in Assam's tea industry, currently plagued by charges of funding militant groups in the state, can be easily traced to that meeting in Dibrugarh at the beginning of the decade. Shaken by the killing of Surendra Paul, owner of Assam Frontier Tea, and tales of the growing strength of ULFA, which was virtually running a parallel government in the state, leading lights of the tea industry responded to the 'summons' by the outfit with alacrity.

At the meeting, ULFA accused the industry of not having done anything for the welfare of the state. Henceforth, the tea executives were told, the industry would have to contribute Re 1 per kg of tea produced in Assam for the welfare of the people. In 1990, Assam was producing about 350 million kg of tea. Clearly rattled by the financial implications of the demand, the tea industry did not know how to react. Some companies worked out a compromise with the outfit, agreeing to 'contribute' to ULFA's war chest. Others like Doom Dooma India, a subsidiary of Unilever group, did not and instead airlifted its executives and their families out of Assam. That famous airlift was finally instrumental in the dismissal of the then Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) government.

Seven years later, chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who held that post in 1990 too, has had his 'revenge'. At least that is how the tea industry collectively views the Assam government's crackdown on Tata Tea in early September. (Assam Police has initiated proceedings against company executives on charges of funding ULFA.) However, no one is willing to go on record. "The tea industry is being made to pay for its alleged sin in getting Mahanta's first government dismissed," says a tea veteran. "The fact is, even if the Unilever staff had not been airlifted, President's rule would have been imposed in Assam, such was the situation then."

 But Mahanta's colleagues dismiss the charges of 'revenge mentality'. Says Digen Bora, Mahanta's closest political associate and Assam's supply minister: "There is no question of any revenge. We are proceeding against the concerned tea company on the basis of strong documentary evidence."

The tea industry is not convinced. "The government's primary job is to provide security," notes a tea executive. "Will the state government guarantee the safety of each and every tea personnel? Obviously not. Therefore, some companies may have worked out ways to protect themselves by paying money. But it is unfair to tar the whole industry with the same brush."

Security of tea gardens has been a major problem ever since ULFA became active in the late '80s, when Bodo militancy also reared its head. Tea estates situated in far-flung areas are easy targets for militants and the killing of at least 10 tea personnel and kidnapping of a dozen others since 1989 (see box) has put the industry under great strain. As V.K. Goenka, vice-president of Indian Tea Association (ITA), a premier tea body, says: "We are not happy with the security provided to the tea gardens in Assam. We will request the state government to strengthen it."

 Security or no security, the fact remains that Assam's tea industry, with a turnover of over Rs 2,200 crore, is the prime target of the militant groups. As ITA officials admitted in Calcutta on September 18, even as recently as the second week of September some companies had got fresh extortion notices. These demands, which are sometimes euphemistically termed "Bodoland tax", etc, run into crores of rupees. The latest practice is reportedly to charge tea companies at the rate of Rs 2,500 per hectare. With 2,30,000 hectares of land under tea cultivation in Assam, the staggering figures can be easily worked out.

Although the industry as a whole still maintains that it is continuing to resist extortion demands, there have been persistent reports that militant groups have received money from some companies. The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a leading underground group, apparently maintains meticulous books of accounts. Seized account books from arrested militants of this group for financial years 1994-95 and 1995-96 reveal that at least nine tea companies have paid money. Among them are Mcneill and Magor, now known as Williamson Magor, owned by the B.M. Khaitan group, Chandona tea estate, Bhergaon tea estate and Ambika tea estate. The amounts range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.

The books of account also revealed that several state government departments, like sales tax, forests and transport, have also consistently paid money to the NDFB. The state chief secretary has promised to take action against the errant officials but the tea industry is sceptical about these statements.

And it is not as if only the tea companies or government departments are paying up; individual businessmen and public sector undertakings like the oil companies are also believed to have paid the militants from time to time. The security scenario in the state is such that there is no other alternative. As a young businessman says: "Right now the unified command (comprising the army, paramilitary and police) is functioning in Assam, so we may feel a little secure. But will the army always stay here? It won't, so it is natural that we look after our own safety."

 In 1993, the Assam government had circulated photographs of Bodo militants counting an amount of Rs 1.32 crore in a hideout. According to the government, the money was paid by Magor to secure the release of one of its senior managers, Subir Ray, in 1992. In fact, the company was alleged to have airdropped the money from its own plane. The company had, however, not reacted to the charges then nor has it said anything this time.

AT any rate, that the tea companies are paying protection money is an established fact. What has come as a shock to the industry is the charges of being unpatriotic and abettors of insurgency. "The tea industry is not anti-national," Goenka avers. "After 150 years of toil and perseverance, the tea industry is now having to restate its credentials."

The charges began flying thick and fast after the Mumbai police caught three ULFA activists on August 23 and recovered documents establishing links with Tata Tea officials and the fact that the company had paid for their passage and hospitality. While the company is yet to admit to the charges, S.S. Dogra, its general manager for northern India plantations, has been arrested by the Assam Police on charges of abetting and aiding war against the state. His arrest follows two days of interrogation of Tata Tea managing director R.K. Krishna Kumar, executive director S. M. Kidwai and Dogra. While Kumar and Kidwai were allowed to go, Dogra was arrested on September 16.

The man everyone is now looking for is Dr Brajen Gogoi, who is said to have accompanied the three ULFA activists to Mumbai and arranged for their stay too, perhaps with the full knowledge of Dogra, who is based in Calcutta. In a lengthy clarification, Tata Tea said it operates a medical scheme under which financial assistance, paid directly to the hospitals, is given for needy patients. "An aberration in the implementation of the scheme at the local level cannot be treated as a justification for the sort of sweeping allegations of funding and collaborating with the ULFA," the statement said.

Alarmed by the developments, Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata met Mahanta in New Delhi and told him that Tata Tea had never paid money to insurgent groups and will not do so in the future either. He also assured the chief minister that anyone in the company found aiding the militants would be dealt with firmly. Despite these meetings, the tea industry is, to use the words of a senior manager, "very distressed" at the Assam government's stand. "If the government had proof of some company footing the hospital bills of ULFA activists, it should have quietly called the officials concerned and warned them instead of making sweeping allegations against the industry as a whole," says a senior tea executive.

But the government is clear that cutting off the funds flow to the militants is a major step in its battle against insurgency. Says Mahanta: "As soon as we came to power last year, we had called the industry representatives and told them to cooperate with us in giving information about the extortion demands. But the tea industry never did that. Now the law will take its own course." Worryingly for the tea industry, it does not have public sympathy. A study commissioned by the ITA in the early '90s found that the people of Assam feel that more locals should be employed in the tea gardens; a majority of tea garden managers are unsympathetic to the people; and that the industry as a whole is pumping profit out of the state.

Interestingly, the audited account books of the NDFB were recovered by the army in late December 1996 and handed over to the police in early January this year. Questions are being raised within the government now as to why no action was taken on the basis of these documents in the intervening period, especially given the fact that the NAYAK same documents may now form the basis of investigations.

And amidst all the allegations and counter-allegations, the last word comes from a seasoned tea executive: "Watching the plight of the tea industry, caught as it is between the threats of the insurgents and the tyranny of the government, which industrialist would now even think of setting up a unit here?" Only the future can provide an answer but at the moment, it's a battle of nerves between the state government and the tea industry, the largest employer in Assam. And for the 8 lakh permanent and temporary workers in the tea industry, these are very uncertain times.