In New Delhi

IT TOOK an upcoming auction for India’s politicians to assert that ‘Father of the Nation’ Mahatma Gandhi’s meager personal articles are a historical national heritage that rightfully belongs to the country.

They have strongly reacted to New York’s Antiquorum Auctioneers’ move to put under the hammer the Mahatma’s round, metal wire-rimmed spectacles, which were at one stage in the last century as recognizable as Winston Churchill’s cigar and Joseph Stalin’s moustache.

The trademark spectacles, which once Gandhi said gave him "the vision to free India," will be auctioned on March 4th and 5th, along with a pair of his sandals, his Zenith pocket watch, made in about 1910, a bowl and plate.

Source: AFP

Now, the politicians, who hardly share any of the values that Gandhi stood for, including simple lifestyle, say that the government should have made efforts to acquire the articles before.

The sudden interest in India in the articles, initially expected to fetch 30,000 pounds, is sure to push up their prices. 

That coupled with the fact that Gandhi’s ascetic lifestyle meant he had few worldly possessions could trigger wide interest in the auction.  

As Ms. Michelle Halpern, a spokesperson for the auctioneers, put it, "Of course, he didn't have much so whatever comes up for sale is worth that much more."

The Indian politicians want the articles to be brought to India to be placed at the Gandhi Smriti, or memorial, at Delhi's Tees January Marg where he spent the last days of his life. 

"I think the government must enter the auction if possible. It is important to bring back Gandhi's memorabilia as it is part of our heritage. It would be a pity if these items were to pass into private hands abroad and leave India bereft of an important part of his legacy," minister Mani Shankar Aiyer was quoted as saying in The Times of India. 

Even Hindu nationalists, not always great admirers of Gandhi, want the articles back in India. Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, aged 78, by a Hindu radical. 

Mr. Manohar Joshi, a former speaker of parliament and a leader of a pro-Hindu regional party, asked the government to explore all means to bring back the items belonging to the father of the nation. 

"The persons who own these articles should be contacted to see if they are willing to give them to India, perhaps for a price. Otherwise, the government should consider being part of the auction and even contact the US government in this regard," he said. 

Mr. Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the leader and head of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation in Mumbai, had been quoted as saying in news reports that several Gandhi admirers had offered to donate a month’s salary to acquire the memorabilia. 

He said one Peter Ruhe, a German collector, had gone around the world collecting Gandhi’s personal possession for business.

"It is all very sad. It is immoral and must be stopped,” he said. “It would be a grave insult to the nation if these items were just sold off. While my great-grandfather attached little importance to his possessions and lived a simple life, they are hugely sentimental items for the people. They are priceless to India. I would absolutely hate it if they ended up enriching the life of some wealthy businessman in America or Britain. They belong here."

What is surprising is that, till the auction was announced, not many Indians had lost sleep over these items all these years.

In 2007, India managed to obtain another piece of Gandhi memorabilia - a manuscript of an article he wrote - after persuading the auctioneers to withdraw the document from sale. 

Gandhi's modest lifestyle, epitomised by his simple white robe that prompted Churchill’s contemptuous remark about “that half-naked fakir,” helped to inspire a generation of Indians to follow him in a non-violent struggle to end the British colonial rule of the subcontinent.

Sadly, despite the sudden nostalgia about Gandhi and interest in his memorabilia, India has not shown due care in protecting and preserving what it had.

Five years ago, the priceless Nobel prize medal of renowned poet and author Rabindranath Tagore went missing from a museum dedicated to him in the eastern city of Calcutta. The medal and certificate as well as some personal possessions were taken from a locked showcase in the museum. 

In 1913, Tagore became the first non-Westerner to be awarded the literature prize. 

In 2007, following reports that the stolen items could have been smuggled to neighbouring Bangladesh, police in that country had conducted searches in a posh locality in Dhaka and interrogated the owner of a handicraft store. But to this day the medallion has not been recovered.

It was liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who brought back the sword of Tipu Sultan - the 18th century Indian ruler of the southern province of Mysore who stoutly resisted the British – from a London auction four years ago.