The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) has urged to boycott Republic Day and called for Assam Bandh on January 26 for 18 hours in Assam.

They have called for a total shutdown from 12.01 am to 6 pm on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) has also issued a customary call for a general strike on the said date in Nagaland.

It may be mentioned that on January 26, the state will also celebrate Saraswati Puja.

Last year on Independence Day, The ULFA-I has urged to boycott and called for Assam Bandh on August 15.

The ULFA had called the bandh from midnight of August 14 till 6 pm of August 15.

However, the emergency services, media, religious occasions were exempted from the bandh, said a joint statement by ULFA-I, NSCN and GPRN.

Notably, ULFA-I led by Paresh Baruah, last year decided had not boycotted or give a call for a bandh on the occasion of Independence Day after 40 years. This year, the banned militant outfit again called for the bandh.

The outfit, however, raised objection to the celebration of Independence Day in Assam, saying that the state was "never a part of colonial India"

The group, in a press release, cited the second article of the Treaty of Yandaboo, which was signed on February 24, 1826, between the East India Company and Burma.

"According to the second article of the treaty, Burma and East India Company had accepted the sovereignty of Assam, and the state was not transferred to British India," the group said in a statement.