Kabiranjan Saikia, popularly known as Swadhinata Phukan who was the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Although Swadhinata Phukan was a member of the civil wing of the banned outfit, he was gunned down in a fake encounter by the state police on the night of 26 May 2000 at Garumara in the Jorhat district of Assam. He was 26 at that time. These two poems by Kabiranjan Saikia – “Aartonador Enixa” [“A Night of Screams”], written on 29 February 1992 and “Xamprotik” [“Nowadays”], written on 18 February 1993 – are sourced from an anthology of his poems, Moi Kabiranjan Uttopto Hobo Khuja Eta Kobitar Naam [I Am Kabiranjan, the Name of a Poem Wanting to Erupt], published by Aank-Baank in 2011.
Author: Kabiranjan Saikia / Swadhinota Phukan
Born at Khutikatia in Nagaon, Assam in 1974, Kabiranjan’s childhood was filled with cultural and literary pursuits. He published his first collection of poems, Rakta Aroti, at the age of 12. He was a degree student when the tag of being an “over-ground worker of Ulfa” was slapped on him, after which he absconded for sometime and finally joined the outfit. He became deputy publicity secretary of ULFA and was killed in a fake encounter on 26th May 2000.