GANDHI AND THE
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
The Nobel Prize, according to the will of its founder Alfred Nobel, are awarded to persons for their services in the field of chemistry, physics, medicine and physiology, literature and peace. The Economic Sciences Prize was introduced by the Swedish Bank and first awarded in 1969.
Till 1964, fourteen Indians Aga Khan III, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, Hari Mohan Banerjee, Sanjib Kumar Chaudhuri, Benegal Narsing Rau, Rajah Bhushanman Manikam, Mahesh Prasad Varma alias His Holiness Bal Brahmachari, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Mehar Chand Davar, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
An apostle of non-violent struggle and a crusader against colonialism and inequality Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi) was a much revered world figure. Between 1924 and 1948, in nearly 100 nominations (individual or joint) he was proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize. And yet despite international support, Gandhi was never a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Why was it so? Was it the fault of the Nobel Committee? Perhaps his associates made mistakes? In order to answer such questions, the nomination letters, newspaper cuttings, reports of the experts of the Nobel Committee, confidential record of the Committee, and other unpublished documents were consulted from the Archives of the Peace Prize Institute. The results are discussed and analysed in this volume.
Rajinder Singh is Post-Doc at the University of Oldenburg, Germany. He is a member of editorial teams: Indian Journal of History of Science, Indian National Science Academy, Delhi; and Science and Culture, Indian Science News Association, Kolkata.
Dr. Singh has written more than 90 articles and seventeen books.
Gandhi and the
Nobel Peace Prize
RAJINDER SINGH
First published 2018
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Contents
GANDHI AND THE Nobel Peace Prize! Both epitomize the best in human civilization and inspire awe. In historical reality, they did not correspond or converge. But Dr. Rajinder Singh has brought the two together, that too, based on original records. I doubt whether Gandhi ever wrote on, much less aspire for, the Nobel. But he was discussed many times in the proceedings of the Nobel Committee. The absence of Gandhi on its scroll probably still hangs deep on its conscience. This small book brings it out so vividly. Gandhi was nominated for the first time in 1924 but from 1937 to 1948 numerous nominations were filed. Dr. Singh dissects each nomination, the motives, the process and the result. He sets it in the political context of the time which makes the second half of the book even more interesting. The book is not about the persona of Gandhi but how he was viewed by his contemporaries. And in this sense a very useful contribution indeed.
PROFESSOR DEEPAK KUMAR
JNU, New Delhi
IT IS DIFFICULT to write the history of Nobel Prizes, because the nomination letters arrive from all over the world in several different languages. Reports from the experts of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and other documents are written in Norwegian and many translations included in the present volume are not literal and far from perfect. They are meant for discussion of content and perspective, so far as the historical facts are known to me. Without question any critical observation or comment is most welcome.
The words given in square brackets [ ] are additional information. In the original reports, references are given within the text of the reports; however, I have placed them under Notes and References. Gandhis letters and articles from different journals referred to in this book (under the author Gandhi, M.K.) are taken from the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
In August 2014, I visited the archives of the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation. I found more documents than previously expected. Presently, I am under the impression that they are not well known due to the fact that there are documents which do not appear in the official record of the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation. These facts make the history of the Nobel Prize and Gandhi a fascinating story indeed.
Between 1901 and 1964 fourteen Indians were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize: Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Aga Khan III, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, Sanjib K. Chaudhuri, N.K. Mukherjee, Benegal N. Rau, Vinoba Bhave et al. Their details are explored in: The inside story of the Nobel Peace Prize award: Indian contestants. The case of Gandhi was published in Mahatma Gandhi: Sex Scandals and the Missed Nobel Peace Prize. The present version is shorter than the original. The figures given in this volume have never been published before.
RAJINDER SINGH
I AM GRATEFUL to Ms. Malene Emilie, Archivist Nobel Peace Prize Institute, Oslo, for sending me information as well as for the support I got during my visit. Without her unconditional help this work could not have been completed.
Thanks are due to Prof. Dr. Michael Komorek, Head of the Research GroupPhysics Didactics and History of Science, for supporting my work by providing research facilities. Without his support, as well as that of the members of the group this work would have never been completed. Furthermore, I thank Mr. Paul E. Lawson of University of Oldenburg for proof-reading this manuscript. I thank Mrs. Leany Maassen and the Shaker Publisher Ltd., Aachen, for permitting me to reproduce some parts of the manuscript from the volume: Mahatma Gandhi: Sex Scandal and the Missed Nobel Peace Prize. Last but not least, I thank the anonymous referee for valuable comments; and Mr. Ramesh Jain, of Manohar Publishers & Distributors, Delhi, for publishing this book.
