Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest apostles of peace, was never awarded the Nobel Peace Prize despite being nominated several times, and the Nobel Prize panel ventured to explain the reason why. He was nominated for five times, including few days before his assassination in January 1948.
According to the panel’s report – Mahatma Gandhi, the missing laureate, the exclusion of him from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is a result of multi-fold factors, one of them being Gandhi not conforming to the conventional criteria of the Nobel committee.
First nomination
Gandhi was first nominated among 13 candidates in 1937 by a member of the Norweigian Parliament Ole Colbjørnsen. However, some panel members criticised him for not being consistently pacifist, and that some of his non-violent movements against the colonial power degenerated into violence and terror. They pointed out his first non-cooperation movement in India which turned violent after a crowd killed several policemen and set fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura.
Other critics believed that Gandhi’s views and ideals were primarily Indian and have no universal application.
Second and third nominations
The Norweigian parliamentarian renominated Gandhi in 1938 and 1939 but ten years were to pass before Gandhi made the short list again.
Fourth nomination
Gandhi’s fourth nomination to Nobel committee was made in 1947. He was one of six members shortlisted to the committee’s list.
The panel members were, however, reluctant to award him the Peace Prize amid the India-Pakistan partition following the independence.
Fifth nomination
His last nomination was made few days before he was assassinated in 1948. A total of six letters of nomination were sent to the committee, some nominators being former laureates.
Since nobody was given a Peach Prize posthumously, the statutes at the time allowed to award the Prize after somone’s death.
However after consideration, the panel members concluded that the posthumous awards should not take place unless the laureate died after the committee’s decision had been made.
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