I don't know, Swati. According to Matthew 26:52, and the kind of Christian pacifism espoused by the likes of Tolstoy in The Kingdom of God is Within You, violence is never the answer. It was this work that heavily influenced Gandhi's thinking and his tactics showed that non-violence can achieve spectacular results. Likewise, Martin Luther King (also massively influenced by Tolstoy) had a greater victory through peaceful protest than say Malcolm X with his "by any means necessary" policy.

I imagine Mandela agonised over this. Perhaps he decided to risk his relationship with God in the knowledge that in those circumstances at that time the only answer was to resist evil through political violence. It's interesting that later in life he reverted to a strategy of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation and that it was this that gave him his biggest victory.