Home >> Global Organizations >> Other

     Email   Print 

What’s so noble about the Nobel peace prize?

Bhuwan Thapaliya - 12/13/2006

Nobel Peace Prize was founded in 1901.Thereafter, 94 exemplary figures and 19 humanitarian organizations have received the dazzling prize. But ironically, a person whose very life symbolizes peace never got the prized accolade. Isn’t this surprising? But yet, Mahatma Gandhi continues to shine as the beacon of love, peace and non-violent resistance all over the world. Why? Because he was a man, who proved that even the greatest of all conflicts could be resolved by the weapons of non violence and love.

Take for instance, the latest Nepalese peace accord singed by the Maoists and the Government. Who would have in their wildest dreams thought that after years of violent conflict, peace would finally shroud Nepal and that too through round table consensus? But that has happened in Nepal and Nepal has shown the world that conflicts no matter how harsh can be resolved by non violent means – once again Gandhism prevails.

Let us now focus more on the legend himself. – Gandhi. Legends say, in the run up after India gained Independence , Lord Mountbatten, Britain ’s last viceroy wrote a short letter to Mahatma Gandhi as a tribute. Synopsis of that historic letter as published in various media reports since then is as follows.

“My dear Gandhi – ji , in the Punjab we have 55,000 soldiers and large –scale rioting on our hands. In Bengal our forces consist of one man, and there is no rioting. May I be allowed to pay my tribute to the One Man Boundary Force,” wrote Lord Mountbatten, as per the historical sources.”

Analysts say, Mountbatten’s message referred to that famous fasting, that Gandhi took for communal unity, and it served as an indication to one of the Gandhi’s greatest feats of non – violence action. Through his historic feat, Mahatma Gandhi, stopped a year long bloodbath in Bengal and gave it a new political dimension.

Observers say, had that wonder occurred today, Gandhi would almost certainly have won the famous Nobel Peace Prize. But what prompted the Norwegian Committee to bypass him then, when this great feat was done, has mystified both the historians and Gandhi’s adherent followers all over the world.

After all, it was Gandhi, who inspired such Nobel peace laureates as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. But why was Gandhi, not awarded a Nobel Peace Prize is a paradox, given the fact that few leaders this century have contributed for peace more than him.

In this issue, analysts say, Gandhi may have been denied the prize because of Norway ’s strong pro – British sentiments fresh after the World War II. This argument holds some ground because Britain was regarded by the Norwegians as their benefactor from Germany during World War II.

And to further strengthen the argument, there were also stories that the Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, included those leaders who had fought against Nazis.

But critics say though this is a relevant argument but not at all convincing, as there were many accounts of Norway appreciating Gandhi and his ideologies.

In any case, in ways that truly matter to individuals, another important factor that may have denied the prize to Gandhi according to the analysts may have been the religious strife that engulfed the subcontinent from 1946 to 1948.

The lethal religious strife had increasingly worried Gandhi. And moreover, it has been stated times and again by Gandhi himself that he considered the civil war and the consequent partition as evidence of his own failure. A groundswell of antagonism toward Gandhi was especially evident in the subcontinent after the partition.

And yet another lame argument came into the existence. Gandhi has been criticized for neglecting his family and driving his eldest son to alcoholism. And some say due to this reason, Nobel committee sidelined him, but this in itself is a joke because Nobel Peace Prize is less about individual character and more about a person's contribution to peace and society.

History suggests us that Gandhi voluntarily renounced his family life considering the fate of his nation so that he could work toward stopping what he saw as the brutalization of human nature over colonialism.

They say Gandhi entered the final of the Nobel race thrice in three different years, ranging from 1937 to 1948, but in all these encounters he lost the race. Gandhi was nominated for the peace prize in 1937, 1947 and 1948. But he was assassinated before a decision was reached on the 1948 award. This raises the question, had he been not assassinated in 1948, would he have won the Nobel Prize for peace that year.

Was Gandhi about to get the prize in 1948? Curiosities like these will tease us forever, but we may never know the real reasons behind Gandhi’s not getting the prize.

Nonetheless, Mahatma Gandhi not getting Nobel Prize has shown how politics often influence the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize. It also raises some doubts in our mind and urges us to push question such as this, “Is Nobel peace prize really noble, if it is, then what’s so noble about the Nobel peace prize?

Whatsoever, Mahatma has nothing to lose by not getting the Noble prize, but this has shown that what is politically correct to a group of Scandinavian academicians doesn’t represent the values of peace globally.

And moreover another paradox is this: Though the Nobel rules of the late 1940s allowed for posthumous awards, Gandhi never did get one. Why? Was he not a suitable candidate to be bestowed with that prize posthumoulsy?

Now, perhaps it is time to redress the oversight and look at the contemporary world engulfed by the brutalities of war. Think about the war in Srilanka, think about the ever deteriorating situation in Iraq , the Taliban’s rising in Afghanistan, terrorists erupting all over the world, Israel – Paletine conflict, and also think about the latest peace accord reached in Nepal that led to the end of the 13 years bloody conflict.

Indeed, the contemporary world order could do a lot in ending the conflicts, if they are reminded of Gandhi’s message of Satyagraha.Most recently Nepal used his ideology to end the brutal conflict. Had Nepal tried to resolve the issue by other means, then Nepal would have further sunk into the abyss of uncertainties. Let the world scrutinize the exemplary model of conflict resolution – that very model build by Nepal galvanized under the Gandhi’s ideology.

Nonetheless, The Nobel Peace Prize paradox will continue to mystify Gandhi’s followers and the lovers of peace all over the world. However, the greatest accolade ever given to the great man by the Nobel Committee was in the year of his assassination (1948). In a possible tribute to Gandhi, no peace prize was given that year .

Now, isn’t this the heights of a Nobel discrimination subjected towards the true son of peace? In 1948, the Nobel Committee should have given the peace prize to Gandhi posthumously instead of wasting it by not giving it to anybody. They should have given it to Gandhi instead. Considering this, I am compelled to think that this year too it will not consider giving it to another man who really deserves it much more than any contemporary leaders - Nepal ’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Is the Nobel Committee listening? Or will it keep on making the same mistake again and again.

If one of these two proponent of peace never get a Nobel Peace Prize, then we all will be compelled to ask, “what’s so noble about the Nobel Peace Prize?”