ABSTRACT
Satyagraha was Gandhi's answer to the question as to what army would defend the sovereignty of civil society based on principles constitutive of civil society such as individual conscience, individual sovereignty and a plurality of sovereignties. The logic of the law of conscience, the sovereignty of the individual and civil society came to Gandhi almost by instinct. Gandhi's theory of swaraj then presents conditions for the possibility of the sovereignty of civil society as independent of state authority whether native or foreign. Swadeshi which literally means region/territory of the self is a necessary and constitutive factor of swaraj. The use of violence or terrorism is the other response to the question of conscience vs. the power of the State. The argument of the man of conscience is however, quite unlike that of the terrorist. Terrorism challenges both the principles of sovereignty of the state as well as that of political obligation.
