Why Nobel Peace Prize eluded Mahatma?

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize:


Another feather albeit a surprise one Nobel Peace Prize in Obama’s presidency. The coveted honor has gone to several individuals who believed in and propagated the Gandhian philosophy of peace and non-violence globally. Prominent Gandhi followers in the recent past have been Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama who have been the recipient of this award and now President Obama joins this list. Obama, the first African American President of the United States, has been an avid admirer of Mahatma Gandhi. Only recently, he called Gandhi “a real hero of mine”.

Like almost everyone he himself is stunned with the news. His press secretary breaks this news with his wake up call to the President. Soon his two daughters followed with Malia informing her father that he won the Nobel Peace Prize and also Bo’s birthday. Sasha, the younger one, added that we have the 3 day weekend coming up.

Obama, at a hastily arranged press meet, described himself as surprised and deeply humbled with this announcement. He said that this award is a call to action to confront the global challenges. "I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said in the White House Rose Garden. He also said that he now has the burden to live up to the expectations of this award.

Critics: Did he get it a little too soon?

Critics are quick to point out that the committee was premature in bestowing this award since he is still in the midst of grappling issues such as wars in Middle East and Afghan, Israel-Palestine conflict, nuclear-standoffs with Iran and Korea, etc. Many are surprised with this announcement since many believe that President Obama is yet to score a major foreign policy success be it with Iran, Afghanistan, Middle East, China, or any other country.

On the contrary Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples, citing his fledgling push for nuclear disarmament and his outreach to the Muslim world. "Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Nobel committee said in its citation. President Obama is credited with dramatically changing American image worldwide after eight years of President George Bush at the helm of affairs during which he is believed to have alienated many foes and distanced friends. Some analysts say that this is the final slap in President Bush’s legacy for his unilateral decisions.

Currently he is not only battling the wars and other foreign policy issues, domestically he is fighting the “Great Recession” and a battered economy, promoting a highly emotional and contentious healthcare issue.

Other winners:

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is given a diploma, a medal and a document confirming the prize amount. The award amount has been varying over time and it is currently at 10 million Swedish Kroner. President Obama rightly announced soon after that he will be donating the award prize money to charity as expected by many.

President Obama is only the third setting US President to receive such a coveted award and he received it after 90 years since President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Peace Prize in 1919 for his achievement in creating the League of Nations then.

Gandhi did not win:

Any one from South Asia wonders every year why Mahatma Gandhi was never awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This question is as puzzling to many, as angering to others and as disinteresting to the rest. Some may feel he deservedly not receive it and others feel betrayed at the vested interest in not awarding to him. One of the primary reasons for such strong reaction is because almost everyone knows the life and struggle of M.K. Gandhi.

The only Indian so far who received this Award is Mother Teresa for her Missionaries of Charity in 1979. Gandhi is the most talked about nominee yet to receive this award. In fact Gandhi was nominated for Nobel Peace prize 5 times in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948 (This time it was just few days before he was killed). Some of the Nobel Committee members are believed to have regretted this decision later though. Dalai Lama was given this award in 1989. The committee chairman then said that this award was a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

Some of the reasoning for not awarding it to Gandhi was attributed to potential aversion from British due to the non-violent campaigns he carried against them. These were later claimed to be false. Another frequent allegation which surfaced against Gandhi was that he was too Indian centric. In 1948 when he was nominated few days before he was assassinated, the committee later decided not to award that year as none suitable candidate was live. Till then no candidate was awarded the Peace prize posthumously. It was also alleged that if he were given the award it would offend a part of the community.

Why he dint win it?

The Nobel Committee Chairman in his writings mentioned that two of the members were in favor of the award to Gandhi but they were unable to convince the other three members to agree to favor Gandhi. They felt that Gandhi was not an unbiased figure in earlier nominations which may result in an adverse reaction from a part of the community. They thought he was too committed to one community to consider him unbiased. Added to this in 1947 Gandhi reportedly gave a speech where he strayed away from his non-violence ideals and talked about war. This was the main reason cited for his not being nominated in 1947 and later years.

Nobel Peace Prize is given to a person who has done work among nations to alleviate peace and its promotion. Unfortunately this definition does not fit Mahatma Gandhi for the above mentioned reasons. In my view Gandhi has been unlucky in all the 5 times he was nominated in spite of the reasons given.

Hope for the future:

On the other hand President Obama was awarded this Prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. How people take it is very subjective, but from the vicissitudes of foreign policies between the eras from President Bush’s to President Obama’s, he may very well deserve it. I sure hope that one day the Nobel Peace Committee will change the process to start issuing this coveted awards posthumously as there are many more deserving candidates like Gandhi who may well get their due.