The Rediff Special /Tushar Gandhi
Why is the Nobel Peace Prize committee ignoring the Mahatma?
The Mahatma's great grandson presents a strong case for awarding Gandhi the Nobel peace prize.
I read in the newspapers recently that it was increasingly difficult for the Nobel Peace Prize
committee in Oslo to find
recipients for the coveted award. The selection is based on nominations from previous winners
and the general public before February 28 every year.
In recent years
politicians -- who first fought wars and then
brought fragile and non lasting peace -- have been selected for the prize. But, sadly, the staunchest disciple of peace known to mankind
during this century was destined not to be an awardee during his
lifetime, and then not acknowledged one because he was not alive anymore!
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the Mahatma (great soul)
of India, was ignored for the Nobel prize. Was it simply an oversight or was there
more to it?
The Mahatma showed humanity a non-violent way
of life. He was the first leader in modern history who successfully
wielded the weapon of passive resistance. Even
if all his achievements were
to be ignored, two of his actions were criteria enough to win him the peace prize
twice over.
During his ambulance corps days in the Boer war in South Africa, the Mahatma and his band of volunteers (they were serving the British), helped evacuate hundreds of wounded. They carried the soldiers on stretchers, trudging over 40 kilometres to the first-aid posts and
field hospital tents... right through battlefields amidst fierce fighting.
Again, during the Zulu rebellion, he and his band worked ceaselessly to evacuate and
provide medical facilities to the wounded on both sides. When
the British doctors refused to treat Zulu warriors, it was Gandhi and his followers who took to nursing the natives, feeding and even bathing them. And all this while he
was leading a passive resistance movement against the very same
Britishers.
The Red Cross was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for
providing the same services, but Gandhi was ignored.
During the turbulent 1947 when there were widespread riots and
unbelievable acts of savagery in the country, Gandhi went to
Calcutta and eastern Bihar. Exposing himself to great danger, he
pacified the rioting mobs. In doing so, he earned
the wrath of misguided fanatics -- and ultimately
paid for it with his life.
Lord Mountbatten, the last British viceroy in India who oversaw the transition of
power, admitted the Mahatma was able to do in Punjab what his army could
not -- stop the arson and massacres.
In recent times Amnesty international was awarded the Peace Prize
for similar work in Northern Ireland, yet Gandhi was ignored.
These two episodes earned
for him the title of Mahatma; but his
achievements have gone unnoticed by the Nobel committee.
Nelson Mandela, a self-confessed Gandhian and a Nobel prize winner, during his initial years, led a violent struggle for the liberation
of his people. Later, he came across Gandhian writings, and took up the ideals of non-violence. From then, he lead one of the most successful non-violent
freedom struggles, one on the same scales as in India. He did one better
when he successfully controlled the newly-liberated South Africans from exacting revenge on the whites for centuries of
torture -- and avoided the splitting of the country.
Mandela is certainly a deserving Nobel winner; yet the person whose action and philosophy
inspired and taught him the use of non violence and passive
resistance has been ignored!
Yasser Arafat, a leader of freedom fighters who were often branded as terrorists,
fought an extremely violent battle for the liberation of his
motherland. His was one of the bloodiest battles for freedom -- yet it failed. It was only when he started using the
weapon of passive resistance -- the Intifada -- that he could win international
sympathy and Israel was forced to come to the negotiating table.
Today, as Israel
traverses the road of peace, it is the former 'terrorist'
and his people who are
winning world sympathy and support.
Arafat too received
the Nobel Peace Prize -- for winning a temporary and fragile peace
in a potentially explosive situation. But the founder and
creator of the weapon of civil disobedience and passive resistance --
the two components of Arafat's Intifada -- does not figure for the award
Mother Teresa, the apostle of peace and mother to millions
of homeless and countless sick, a tireless
worker for peace and brotherhood, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She works
for the downtrodden, the destitutes, the dying and the orphaned,
and is single-handedly responsible for setting up a worldwide network of the Missionaries
of Charity. By awarding the Mother, the Nobel committee honoured itself.
Gandhi was a man who ceaselessly
worked for the downtrodden -- first in South Africa and then in India.
He nursed the victims of British
genocide in South Africa, the Zulus, the English-wounded
and the Boer casualties. He nursed plague victims
in Africa and India. Gandhi, by supporting
the harijans, the untouchables in the Indian caste
system, braved ostracism from society. He treated leprosy patients with
his own hands; he sheltered hundreds of refugees and destitutes in his ashram.
Gandhi, who achieved all this without
the support and patronage of the Church or the Christian
West, was ignored by the Nobel peace committee.
The Dalai Lama, the leader of the homeless Tibetans and a votary
of non-violence and peace, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
For mainly continuing the battle for his displaced people
against the Chinese Communist invaders of his mountain kingdom.However unsuccessful his efforts may yet have been, it is admirable the way he
continues, propagating the idea of
international brotherhood.
The Dalai Lama is a worthy recipient of the peace prize. One
day he may lead his followers back to his mountain Shangrila
on the wings of a non-violent freedom struggle.
But Gandhi, who
led two non-violent struggles (the first for human rights
and equality in racist South Africa and the other for freedom from the British) was
never considered good enough for the Nobel prize.
I urge this committee of peace
to correct the mistakes and set the record straight by awarding
the last Nobel Peace Prize of the century to
the Mahatma.
In the past, whenever it has been suggested the peace prize
be awarded to Gandhi, the committee always maintained
it cannot award it posthumously -- what would become of the prize money?
If that is the only objection, then I have a suggestion. It can appoint an international trust committee -- comprising eminent people, past awardees, heads of states, social workers -- to set up a corpus fund with the money. The income from this fund can be awarded to organisations
working internationally for peace.
The medal and scroll of honour could be collected by the head
of the Indian state and kept as a national treasure at the Gandhi Memorial.
I would urge people who agree with me to write
to the Nobel Peace Prize committee in Oslo. Help in this gesture
to create a better tomorrow for the orphans of violence, and
honour the memory of the 20th century's greatest warrior for peace--
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Tell us what you think of this opinion
|