Why Nobel Prize was not Awarded Gandhi subsequently for 5 Times

Mahatma Gandhi Continues to be Strongest Models of Peace/Non-Violence

Over 60 years after his death, the leader of India’s independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi still continues to be one of the strongest models of peace and non-violence all over the world. Yet the query remains answered as to why he was not granted the world’s greatest honour for peace inspite of being nominated five times as well as shortlisted thrice for the Nobel Prize?

The issue had come up when Kailash Satyarthi, children’s rights activists of India, had been awarded the prize jointly with Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai. Norwegian historian and Nobel Peace Prize expert, Oivind Stenersen, had informed The Wall Street Journal that awarding Mr. Satyarthi the peace prize had been a smart move by the committee.

He commented that it always had a guilty conscience since Gandhi did not get the prize and that they knew that the committee had been looking for an Indian for quite some time. The selection committee had provided a host of reasons on the official website of the Nobel Peace Prize on why Mr Gandhi had never received the popular prize.

In 1937, during Mr Gandhi’s first nomination, the adviser of the selection committee, Jacob Worm-Muller had been critical about him stating that according to the Nobel Foundation, `he was undoubtedly a good, noble and ascetic person, a prominent man who is deservedly honoured and loved by the masses of India’.

Several Critics in International Peace Movement

Mr Worm-Muller, at the same time had written that ‘there were sharp turns in his policies that could hardly be satisfactorily explained by his followers. He is a freedom fighter and a dictator, an idealist and a nationalist; He is frequently a Christ, but then, suddenly an ordinary politician’.

He added that Mr Gandhi had several critics in the international peace movement and was not consistently pacifist and should have known that some of his non-violent campaigns towards the British could degenerate into terror and violence.

He also believed and had mentioned in his report to the selection committee, that Mr Gandhi was too much of an Indian nationalist and one could say that it is significant that his well-known struggle in South Africa was for the sake of the Indian only and not of the blacks whose conditions of living was even worse.

Mr Gandhi – First & Foremost a Patriot

One of the committees was also of the opinion that Mr Gandhi had not been a `real politician or supporter of international law, nor a humanitarian relief worker or an organizer of international peace congresses. Mr Gandhi had been nominated for the award again in 1938 and 1939, though was shortlisted a second time only in 1947 when the Nobel Peace Committee Advisor Jens Arup Seip had been less critical of Mr Gandhi than Mr Worm-Muller.

Selection committee chairman, Gunnar Jahn had mentioned in his diary that `while it is true that Gandhi is the greatest personality among the nominees, plenty of good things can be said about him, we should remember that he is not only an apostle for peace, he is first and foremost a patriot.

 Moreover, we have to bear in mindthat Gandhi is not naïve. He is an excellent jurist and a lawyer’. In 1948, Mr Gandhi had been shortlisted for the third time just days prior to his assassination which had prompted the selectors to think whether the awards could be given subsequently.