The Maoists have been at the helm of the movement in Lalgarh right from its inception. Even as they organised the resistance to state repression, they put in place, at a rudimentary level, an alternative programme of development based on the people's initiative and their voluntary labour. But when the joint forces of the central and state governments moved into the area, the organisation of a people's militia became an imperative. There is a need to trace the roots of the armed resistance. The grudging Bengali urban literati need to understand that questions as to who is to lead and guide the movement and the form it should take are to be decided by the sons of the soil themselves, and not by those who keep a safe distance from it.