My inspiration to write this after a very long time is Yasser Arafat. I was really surprised to learn that Mr Yasser is a noble laureate, and of all the category he has been awarded noble for contribution to world peace!! What I dont understand is, a man who headed one of the worlds most ruthless terrorist organization, how on earth can he win a noble prize for peace?! The reason given for this selection was that he 'brokered' a peace deal with Isreal in an agreement. I agree that some of his decisions were path breaking but what about that brutal killings undertaken by PLO in the past, doesn't it count for much??
This brings us to the obvious question 'why was M.K Gandhi denied the Noble?'. He was the global ambassador for peace, I cant think of any human being who devoted his life for non violence. Although he was nominated five times, the Noble committee members never found him worth of giving this award. I visited the official website of the awards and they were brave enough to write about their mistakes. In one of their article they have explained the possible reason for this miss. I was really surprised by reading those reasons. In the early part of the 19th century Europeans considered Indians 'worth for nothing!'(It hasn't changed much). If they had given him the price they would have taken on the mighty British empire, they obviously didn't want to commit this foolishness. Another possible reason given was that he did his work for his own country not for the world!! Most ridiculous of all is in 1947, he wasn't awarded because he was not against the 'setting up of armed forces for independent India'! Without the military force how will a country function?!
Nevertheless he was almost certain to receive it in 1948, but unfortunately he was killed two days before the nomination! Serious consideration were made to give it posthumous for the first time, but later it was dismissed. If one see's the list of people who have wont it, he will definitely feel the absence of the great Mahatma. More than Gandhi deserving Noble, it was the Noble peace prize which deserved Mahatma Gandhi.
1 comment:
The Award committee have thrown mud on their own faces. Well said. Well written
It sounds more like they were trying to find a reason NOT to give the award to the Mahatma. Sounds like the prize loosing my respect.
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