RSS FeedsWhy Mahatma Gandhi Never Got The Peace Nobel
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14 Oct
2007 |
This is strange, it never crossed my mind. Isn’t he one of the greatest peace symbols the history of the world ever known? Here’s a nice, analytical essay on why the Mahatma might have not been awarded the Nobel peace prize. I could relate to the following extract:
The committee’s adviser, professor Jacob Worm-Müller, who wrote a report on Gandhi, was much more critical. On the one hand, he fully understood the general admiration for Gandhi as a person: “He is, undoubtedly, a good, noble and ascetic person – a prominent man who is deservedly honoured and loved by the masses of India.” On the other hand, when considering Gandhi as a political leader, the Norwegian professor’s description was less favourable. There are, he wrote, “sharp turns in his policies, which can hardly be satisfactorily explained by his followers. (…) He is a freedom fighter and a dictator, an idealist and a nationalist. He is frequently a Christ, but then, suddenly, an ordinary politician.”
This reminded me of my principal in the special school. There was a time when I idolized her: had she started a gang or a cult at that time I would have certainly joined it as an ardent member or follower. Although our principals ran in opposite directions, I respected her for the sense of fairness and dignity she possessed. Then, all of a sudden she would take a 180-degree turn and metamorphose into this heavily authoritarian, biased and fanatically religious person who only knew how to preach to you and castigate you for thinking different. Mahatma Gandhi too was like that. He disliked people who didn’t tow his line. He was dictatorially peaceful and encouraged a coterie of devotees around him. As a personality I think he was too big for the Nobel and it is good that he never got it, but had I been in the committee and had I access to his true thinking I’d have never recommended him.
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October 26th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Freedom. After years of independence struggle that India had to go through, our great national leaders took it for granted that the people of India understood and valued the importance of freedom and come what may, they would never misuse it for their selfish motives. But, with the changing of times and those, who fought against the British no more with us, its time to re-look into the entire concept of freedom. May be, there is a need to analyze the whole concept of freedom and put certain issues, such as the National Anthem, National Flag and Father of The Nation, which represent our national identity and national pride, over and above the scope of freedom.
But, with such a policy not being enforced by the government, it gives a right to anyone to speak on any issue irrespective of whether he or she is capable of it or not. Say, for example, recently a Maulana in Jammu and Kashmir issued a fatwa, ordering the Chief Minister of the state Gulam Nabi Azad, not to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti in the state on 2nd October, this year. Though, one may say that the status and respect Mahatma Gandhi Ji enjoys not only in India but across the world is such any unknown Maulana sitting somewhere in Kashmir valley can hardly make any difference to it, but the incident raises many questions, which deserve an answer. The post of Chief Minister is a constitutional post, set-up as per the provisions of the constitution of India and therefore has to fulfill certain duties assigned to him by the constitution. It is a legal obligation of a Chief Minister under the federal system, which India follows, to celebrate the national festivals like Gandhi Jayanti, as per the directives of the Central government. Moreover, who is this Maulana and in what capacity is he ordering a Chief Minister? Logically, strict action must be taken against this Maulana and therefore one fails to understand why has he not been arrested so far for ordering the government and trying to prevent it from celebrating a national festival?
Contrary to what been happening in India, it would be interesting to have a little insight into the situation in other countries. Here are two examples to prove the point.
Even though he belongs to a political background that has a very definite viewpoint on this issue, BJP leader Mr. L K Advani, during his visit to Pakistan had to praise Md. Ali Jinnah saying that the latter had secular credentials and was not responsible for the partition of the country. This despite the fact that RSS, the parental organization of BJP has always criticized Jinnah’s for his role in the freedom movement considered Jinnah responsible for the partition. But, Mr. Advani, who has often been compared to the political stalwart and the first home Minister of India Sardar Patel, could not find the courage of speaking his mind on the issue, while he stood on the Pakistani soil.
Recently, on the occasion of the completion of 60 years of independence of both India and Pakistan, a private television channel conducted a survey to know the viewpoint of leaders and common man on various social and political issues facing the two nations. In response to one of the many questions asked simultaneously to the leaders and people of the two countries, whereas most people from Pakistan considered Md. Ali Jinah as their role model, the response from Indian side varied with different people considering different men as their role model starting from Mahatma Gandhi Ji to the for President of India Bharat Ratan APJ Abdul Kalam Ji.
What this Maulana in Kashmir and others like him, who criticize Mahatma Gandhi Ji, need to understand is that it is not a person that we honor but it is the ideology called Gandhigiri that we respect. The greatest contribution of Mahatma Gandhi Ji was that he called ‘RIGHT AS RIGHT AND WRONG AS WRONG’. The biggest example of this came into light when during the second world war, though India was fighting against the British to win India’s independence, Gandhi Ji advocated that India should help the British. This was because Mahatma Gandhi Ji knew that as far as the world war was concerned, the British were on the right side. Now, almost 60 years after his death, the world community is appreciating his contribution with the most recognized world body, The United Nations celebrating 2nd October this year as The World Non-Violence Day. Along with that, there is also a broad consensus within the world community that not awarding The Nobel Peace award to Mahatma Gandhi was a big mistake and attempts are being made to rectify it.
The last time India really took the issue of Mahatma Gandhi Ji seriously was when certain guests while participating in a chat show hosted by Nikki (Kabir Bedi’s wife) made derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi Ji. Even on that occasion, the matter was goofed up by the authorities with the protest being centered more round the fact that how could Star TV, which was at that point of time was solely controlled by foreign media, could air such remarks on Mahatma Gandhi Ji, rather than logging a complain against the fact that how could a program be allowed to air in India, in which Mahatma Gandhi Ji was abused and insulted.
No, rather than it being just about a person known as Mahatma Gandhi Ji, this has more to do with the nation and our national identity. The government needs to follow a more clear policy on this issue according to which, it should either seize to recognize Mahatma Gandhi Ji as the Father of the nation or see to it that he is given the due respect he deserves as the Father of Nation. And, once the decision has been taken and such a status is given to Mahatma Gandhi Ji or for that matter any leader, then it should be seen to it that his respect is a top priority and no one dares to say anything on Indian soil.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:11 am
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