Mallya to the rescue of Gandhi items

Flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya and teetotaller-prohibitionist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi may be at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, but a New York auction house brought the twain together on Thursday.

Mallya has procured the Mahatma’s personal items, including the iconic round metal-rimmed glasses, his leather chappals, and a pocket watch for $1.8 million (approximately Rs10 crore). The other items auctioned include a plate and bowl.

But while the dust over the auction is yet to settle, another controversy seems to be brewing. Though minister for tourism and culture Ambika Soni claimed Mallya had bought the items at the government’s behest, Mallya said his participation in the auction was purely personal. “I have not had any dialogue with anybody in the government,” he told the Press Trust of India on telephone from France.

Mallya said he would be presenting Gandhi’s memorabilia to the government.
Reacting to Soni’s statement, he said: “I’m not aware of what Ambika Soni has said, but neither before nor after the auction was anybody in government in touch with me.
At a hurriedly called “unofficial” press conference earlier in the day, Soni had said: “It is the victory of the UPA government.”

Soni said the government could not participate in the auction because of a restraining order from the Delhi HC. But “the prime minister asked me to ensure the items were brought back at any cost. We requested Mallya to help and he procured Bapu’s items for the country. His representative (Toni Bedi) was in constant touch with us through the Indian consulate in New York. He bought the items in conjunction with the government.”

Protests and drama preceded the auction. On a petition filed by the Ahmedabad-based Navjeevan Trust, which has rights over the Mahatma’s belongings, the Delhi high court court had passed an interim injunction on March 3 to prevent the articles from going under the hammer. The court also issued notice to the auction house, Antiquorum Auctioneers.

The auction took place on Thursday after a dramatic turn of events with US-based owner James Otis changing his mind and deciding not to sell the items at the last minute, but Antiquorum refusing to take them off the block.

Mallya’s bid came as a surprise as his name was not among the initial bidders. He had earlier procured Tipu Sultan’s majestic sword and a silver-mounted flintlock sporting gun at a Sotheby’s auction in London. The weapons are now part of his personal collection.

Antiquorum has said it will not finalise the sale for the next two weeks to allow the legal issues to be resolved. —-With inputs from agencies