Introduction

in context of the Nobel Peace Prize, Gandhi came to the limelight after Tenzin Gyatso (better known as the Dalai Lama), in 1989, received the award. During his acceptance speech, Tenzin Gyatso said that he was inspired by Gandhi’s non-violent actions. ¹ A few years later, editor of the Nobel Peace Prize section of the Nobel Museum of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Øyvind Tønnesson, wrote an article on the official webpage of the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation. He stated that Gandhi was nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948 and that the Nobel Committee (henceforth N.C.) regretted Gandhi’s omission. ² In 2006, Muhammad Yunus and the Gramin Bank of Bangladesh received the Nobel Peace Prize where, once again, Gandhi became a point of discussion. Geir Lundestad, the permanent secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee admitted ‘Our record is far from perfect and not giving Mahatma Gandhi the Nobel Prize was the biggest omission’. ³