In the last three decades the United Liberation Front of Asom has followed a trajectory which has taken it away from its stated goal, alienated it from the masses and pushed it increasingly into the groove of terrorism sans an ideology. It began in April 1979 as an organisation committed to ending "Indian colonial rule" and, unlike other such outfits, succeeded in drawing its cadres from all segments of the population. At one time ULFA symbolised, for many in Assam, a point of resistance to Indian hegemony. But the extortions, killings, bomb blasts, targeting of civilians and of migrant workers from north Indian states, led to erosion of whatever support and sympathy it enjoyed. Today the outfit is on the defensive mode.