Mahatma Gandhi - The Missing Laureate

Mahatma Gandhi, a strongest symbol of non-violence (ahimsa) and peace. He was nominated five times (937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and, 1948) for Nobel peace prize. But never awarded. Finally nominated a few days before he was murdered in January 1948. Nobel Committee didn’t award anyone that year on the grounds that "there was no suitable living candidate". But committee awarded the prize posthumously to the Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961, who died after being nominated.

Why Gandhi was not awarded the prize? 

These questions have been asked frequently. Was horizon of the Norwegian Nobel Committee may seem too narrow? Were Norwegian Nobel Committee members unable to appreciate the struggle for freedom among non-European peoples? Were Norwegian Nobel Committee afraid to make a prize award which might be detrimental to the relationship between their own country and Great Britain?

After 41 years of Mahatma Gandhi's death…When the 14th Dalai Lama was awarded the Prize on 10th December 1989, the chairman of the committee said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi." The omission has been publicly regretted by later members of the Nobel Committee.

Finally, 

Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate.

Reference

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