Mahatma Gandhi and the Noble Prize Issue
Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for five consecutive years in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and finally in 1948, just a few days before he was assassinated in New Delhi. However, all the five times, he could not win Noble Prize for the reason that he was "neither a real politician nor a humanitarian relief worker." Although Gandhi is considered as a savior and also referred to as the “Father of the Nation”, a fact recognized world over and even by UN, yet when it came to receiving Nobel Prize, it did not come to any conclusion.
The executive director of the Nobel Foundation Michael Sohlam regretted that Gandhi could not be given the award and said that not awarding Gandhi was a ‘big regret’ of the Noble Foundation. He said, "We missed a great laureate and that's Gandhi. It is a big regret."
Since his struggle for independence Mahatma Gandhi has become the strongest emblem of non-violence and peace in the 20th century. He was held in respect and people listened to his speeches and remained calm and non-violent just because of his advice. He was considered a leading candidate for Noble Prize when he was nominated all the 5 times. However, on all these occasions he was rejected on the pretext of reasons provided by the committee. Some of the frequently asked questions regarding this issue challenged the thinking of Norwegian Nobel Committee as to why it became so narrow that they failed to understand the sacrifices and deeds of Gandhi; were they unable to fully realize and appreciate the man or perhaps they were afraid that giving prize to Gandhi would displease the British and lead to strained relations between the two countries?
One of the reasons given by the committee’s advisor professor Jacob Worm-Müller, who wrote a report on Gandhi, was that he was good, noble and prominent man, who was loved by masses in India. But considering him as a politician, he termed “sharp turns in his politics” as hardly satisfactory and said that “frequently he is a Christ but suddenly an ordinary politician.”
Apart from his, Gandhi had also many critics in the International Peace Movement who were against his receiving the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Committee advisor, citing those criticisms declared that Gandhi was not a pacifist as some his non-violent campaigns during the independence movements turned violent and led to bloodshed. This refers to an incident during the Non-Cooperation Campaign in 1920-1921 when a crowd in Chauri Chaura tuned violent and attacked a police station, killing many policemen, and torched the police station.
Another set of critics accuse Gandhi to be too much of an Indian nationalist. They blame his ideals being too much for Indians and lesser for the rest of the world. Another reason might be the case that up till 1960’s no one else apart from Europeans and Americans had received the Nobel Prize. May be the Norwegian Nobel Committee was not prepared to make a change in history.
All these criticism and objections led to Gandhi’s rejection for the Nobel Prize. Even though a lot of questions and objections were raised on the issue, yet the decision of the Nobel Prize Committee remained the same.
