The Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2020 is being conferred on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. And the prestigious prize for the year 2019 is being conferred on late Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman in recognition of his vision to strengthen relations with India, and his efforts to promote peace and non-violence in the Gulf region, the Culture Ministry announced on Monday.

The decision to confer the award for 2020 on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, his first foreign trip since the outbreak of Covid-19.  Modi will attend the national day programme of Bangladesh on March 26.

The Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by the government of India since 1995, the 125th birth anniversary commemoration year of Mahatma Gandhi. The award is open to all people regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed or sex.

The jury for Gandhi Peace Prize is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprises two ex-officio members, namely the chief justice of India and leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Gandhi Peace Prize 2019 being conferred on His Late Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman is a fitting recognition of His Majesty’s standing as a leader of remarkable compassion, and of his contributions to furthering peace and prosperity in the region.”

Two eminent members are also part of the jury — Om Birla, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, and Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation.

The jury met on March 19, 2021 and after due deliberations, unanimously decided to select Bangladesh’s father of the nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Oman’s longtime ruler Sultan Qaboos for the prize, an official statement said.