Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 – two days before the closing date for nominations.
Up to that point in time, no Nobel prize had ever been awarded posthumously. There was no rule preventing it, but the Committee noted that Gandhi had left no property and no will, and he belonged to no organisation. Who should receive the money?
The Swedish institutions that awarded the other Nobel prizes were of the opinion that there should be no posthumous awards, unless the laureate died after the Committee had made its decision.
But why had Gandhi been overlooked so many times in his lifetime?
Gandhi was, and is, widely admired for his piety and his policy of non–violent opposition to oppression. A Norwegian advisor to the Peace Prize Committee wrote, "He is, undoubtedly, a good, noble and ascetic person ... who is deservedly honoured and loved by the masses of India."
But the same advisor criticised inconsistencies in Gandhi's policies. He had many critics in the international peace movement, who maintained that he should have known that some of his non–violent campaigns towards the British would degenerate into violence and terror. Another frequent criticism from non–Indians was that Gandhi was "too much of an Indian nationalist". Others have said that when he campaigned to improve living conditions for the Indian minority in South Africa, he ignored the plight of the Black population – whose conditions were even worse. And at the time of Indian partition, some Committee members felt that he was too strongly on the side of the Hindus as opposed to the Muslims.
These are all points made by Øyvind Tønnesson – nobelprize.org Peace Editor, 1998–2000 – who could be said to be naturally on the defensive. A more impartial observer might be concerned, particularly today, about issues of Imperialism, European (and/or Western) bias, and even racism.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided in the end to "reserve" the 1948 prize, and a year later they decided not to spend the prize money at all. Tønnesson concludes: "What many thought should have been Mahatma Gandhi's place on the list of Laureates was silently but respectfully left open."
© Haydn Thompson 2022