Did Gandhi Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize

What I am going to write is quite explosive and many will not agree with me. This concerns Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the peace prize. Gandhi is considered a Mahatma( great Soul). This is true to a limited extent, but basically he was a wily politician and many of his actions defy rationalisation. In a number of instances his actions were guided by his desire to be recognized as a apostle of non violence. He also wished to create an aura that he was above politics. Gandhi and Bhagat Singh An example is the case of the revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his comrades. All of them were sentenced to be hanged by the British presided courts. Many people requested Gandhi to make an appeal to the Viceroy, to spare these young men. But history records that Gandhi refused to make any appeal, on the plea that they had violated his code of non-violence. This shocked the entire nation and Gandhi was greeted with black flags at many places, but Gandhi the consummate politician ignored all this. So intent was he on his 'image', that he allowed these revolutionaries to be hanged.

Partition The biggest failure of Gandhi was partition. This was the period when a massive exchange of populations accompanied by unprecedented violence took place in the Punjab and Sind. Thousands of women were raped and many more killed. Children were butchered and an entire train coming from Pakistan to the Punjab was hacked and all the Hindu occupants killed. The women were captured, raped and killed. It is estimated that 12 million people were affected and the violence continued unabated for weeks and months. But Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence made no effort to visit the Punjab and Lahore to stem this violence. This is hard to explain, as to why he ignored this massive carnage in the west. Gandhi himself has no explanation for this and his apologist’s brush this incident under the carpet With almost 2 million deaths, Gandhi must stand condemned as a man who took no action. He sat like the proverbial Muni, silent and doing nothing. To top it, he expected the Hindu refugees, who had come from Pakistan to go back. Such naivety has never been explained.

Gandhi a Politician Gandhi was thus a simple politician, with a single point agenda to further his ideas. Non violence was only a ploy. History records that he had a terrible price to pay for his inaction, with his assassination in Jan 48. Thus Gandhi does not fulfil the high ideals of a Nobel prize. History will record that he could not prevent the partition of India and by his naivety allowed hundreds and thousands of Hindus to be butchered and women raped and murdered without his batting an eye lid, intent as he was on his 'world image'