Mao or the Mahatma? We agree many or all of those leftwing radicals are fighting for the oppressed and the marginalised with the kind of commitment that is rare. Trouble is only with their choice of means. This morning, as I was reading one more news item on the ongoing blood-letting (it does not matter from which side, the government or the Maoists), it occurred to me what if all of them turned to the Mahatma for ideological inspiration? Then, you would have large swathes of India with a parallel government but of the gram swaraj variety. Instead of blocking roads, they would be holding a sit-in not to let in the forces of the State and all their agents of "distorted" development. Charkhas in place of guns!