Sri Aurobindo
Bande Mataram
Calcutta, March 24th, 1908
Part Six. Bande Mataram under the Editorship of
Sri Aurobindo with Speeches Delivered during the Same Period 6 February – 3 May
1908
How the Riot Was Made
The statement of the Public Prosecutor that the cause of the Tinnevelly riots was that Mr. Chidambaram Pillai was remanded to custody and that Mr. Pillai had himself quelled a disturbance which was likely to take place at Tuticorin station, is only additional and independent evidence to support a self-evident fact.
The best way to bring about a riot, if the authorities want one, is to remove the leaders when public feeling is at white heat.
It serves to bring the excitement to exploding point and yet remove those who can alone prevent the explosion or give it a legitimate channel of escape.
No intelligent leader in India, Moderate or Nationalist, would use his influence to precipitate a collision between the authorities and the people on the physical plane in which the people can only act with a temporary strength while the bureaucracy can exercise a settled and at present irresistible pressure.
In the moral struggle where determination, unity and self-sacrifice on the one side can outweigh organized power and the prestige of authority on the other, the people hold the winning cards.
Mr. Pillai and his helpers fought the good fight at Tuticorin in this knowledge and restrained all violence while they encouraged the people to assert their manhood and test their 
unity by passive resistance.
The statement in some Anglo-Indian papers that the strike was accompanied by rowdyism seems to be the usual baseless fabrication.
The people were strong, but perfectly orderly and calm.
It was only after the removal of the restraining influence of the leaders that they broke out into violence.
The fact is significant for the popular leaders also, as we have already pointed out; it shows the necessity of a democratic organization which will prevent the removal of the one or two strong men from bringing about an outburst or a collapse.