India approaches US Govt,owner to stop Gandhi auction

As the time for auction of the Mahatma Gandhi memorabilia draws closer,the Government has intensified its efforts to prevent the personal possessions of the Father of the Nation...

As the time for auction of the Mahatma Gandhi memorabilia draws closer,the Government has intensified its efforts to prevent the personal possessions of the Father of the Nation from getting into private hands. Sources said the Government is moving on a number of fronts to ensure that the articles are not lost. The Ministry of External Affairs has got in touch with the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to explore the possibility of getting the Delhi High Court order staying the auction implemented,they said.

Simultaneously,the purported owner of the memorabilia,James Otis,has been invited by the Consulate General of India in New York in an effort to convince him to withdraw the sale. This is being done despite the fact that the ownership of Otis over the Gandhi articles is still to be established,considering that the auction house,Antiquorum Auctioneers,has refused to divulge the identity of the owner.

Otis,interestingly,had made a statement in New York saying that he was willing to donate the articles to India,provided the Indian Government promised to earmark at least five per cent of the countrys GDP for poverty alleviation and other programmes that were close to the Mahatmas heart.

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In a statement issued on Wednesday morning,the MEA said the Consulate General of India in New York had also been interacting with the auction house over the past few days.

Indian-American business tycoons and NRIs have also come into the picture,led by famous hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal,who have shown interest in bidding for the items and donating them to the Indian Government if they succeed in winning the auction.

Sources said if nothing works,the Government is not averse to entering the auction itself to buy the items. The bottomline is that the articles will not be allowed to go out of Indias hands.

The articles on auction are a pair of Gandhis trademark circular metal-rimmed glasses,his sandals,a pocket watch and some utensils in which he is believed to eaten one of his last meals.

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The Government had earlier indicated that it will buy only the sensitive belongings like the glasses and the pocket watch. This was in line with the established policy and also recommendations of an expert committee that the best course in such situations was to encourage and persuade people to voluntarily give such material to the Government in the interest of preserving the countrys heritage and history. It has also been argued that a large number of people,who had donated such articles in the past to institutions like the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library,would feel cheated and prospective donors discouraged if the Government starts buying at auctions at high prices.

In 2007,the Government had reached a settlement with London-based auction house Christies and paid 18,000 pounds to obtain a letter written by Gandhi a few days before his death.