ABSTRACT
Aurobindo was one of the rare nationalist leaders who, while theorizing India's nationalist movement differently, also argued for passive resistance as a mechanism to pursue his mission. The disgruntled Congress activists also realized that as long as the Moderates reigned supreme in the nationalist struggle, it was difficult, if not impossible, to experiment with other alternatives. By the late nineteenth century, as shown by the available evidence, India's political scene underwent a radical change. The situation was further complicated with the foundation of the Muslim League, which soon emerged as an effective political platform for ventilating Muslim grievances. Boycott and passive resistance are forms of civil disobedience that were practised long before they were deployed in India's nationalist campaign. The suffragette movement was one of the first examples of passive resistance. The design was also meant to express that the colonized were capable of effectively challenging the colonizers by undertaking means that were unprecedented in the Indian context.
