India

Government to save Gandhi's belongings

Article published on the 2009-02-28 Latest update 2009-02-28 16:03 TU

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian independence leader
photo: archives

India's government has decided to try to acquire personal items which had belonged to Mahatma Gandhi, and which are due to go on sale in an auction in New York next week. The Culture Ministry says it plans to display the articles in certain museums if it manages to acquire them.

India's government has decided to try to acquire personal items which had belonged to Mahatma Gandhi, and which were to be put for sale in an auction in the United States next week.

The round eye-glasses, the sandals and other belongings were expected to fetch at least $US20,000 to 30,000.

"Whatever can be done is being done to ensure that the articles are not auctioned, by involving all concerned stakeholders, " India's Minister of Culture told the Indian Press Agency, PTI. The Culture Ministry says it plans to display the articles in certain museums if it manages to acquire them.

Gandhi's great-grandson, Tushar, who runs the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation in Mumbai, pulled the alarm bell and began to raise money to try to buy the items before they went on sale to the public in New York.

The seller is a German collector who procured the items from one of Gandhi's great-nieces. Gandhi came to symbolise, as well as an aesthetic way of life, peaceful resistance against occupation, after he led a civil disobedience campaign against the British rule of India.

A Hindu himself, Gandhi, was assassinated in the wake of independence in 1948 by a Hindu extremist who believed too many concessions had been made to India's Muslim community in the negotiations for independence.