32. Politicization of the Nobel Prize

Source: https://www.nobelprize.org/

The Nobel Prize is perhaps the most politicized award of all time. Every time a Nobel Prize is awarded, it is engulfed by political controversies. For instance, in 2016, when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Juan Manuel Santos of Columbia for his attempts to negotiate a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Forces of Columbia (FARC), it was met with severe backlash by political groups in Columbia. This even resulted in voters rejecting the agreement, five days later. Similarly, when President Obama received the prize for his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people in 2009, many thought that the decision was premature. Malala Yousafzai was met with severe criticism when she received the award five years back, all based on political ground.

Let us turn our attention to the Indian scenario. Recently, Abhijit Banerjee won the Nobel Prize for his research in development economic. Surprisingly, the political elite of India has managed to politicize this decision as well. Several ministers have disparaged Banerjee as ‘left leaning’. A majority of people have expressed their public disagreement of Banerjee’s views, even going to the extent of calling him ‘anti-national’. This points towards the inability of these citizens to appreciate talent, and at the same time, reducing a person’s capability to politics. A few years back, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was also targeted. It was believed that Sen did not agree with the ruling party then and was thus consorting with the opposition.

Politicization of the Nobel Prize is only leading to the loss in credibility of this prestigious award. Today, people with political underpinnings in the country are criticizing the Nobel committee as being naïve. But, Nobel Prize is one of the most distinguished awards in the world. So why should we politicize it?