Using Bapu’s pix? Pay royalty to a German

Remember the public outcry when liquor baron Vijay Mallya bailed out Mahatma Gandhi’s precious memorabilia from Antiquorum auctioneers for Rs8 crore in March 2009? If you thought that was sad, well, you have another think coming: the Gandhi memorabilia had been auctioned by James Otis of the US, but he had procured the items from a German called Peter Ruhe, a self-proclaimed Gandhian. And now, Ruhe is back in India — in Gujarat — with a list of people from whom he will try to procure more stuff — which may soon be auctioned, and once again embarrass the country.

And the irony is getting deeper. Ruhe is now demanding royalty for use of Bapu’s pictures in Narayan Desai’s book My Life Is My Message. The vice-chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith, Sudarshan Iyengar, says that Ruhe simply wheedled the pictures out of Satyagrah Ashram, without paying them anything, and now he is demanding royalty for “our own possessions”. 

DNA found out that Ruhe, who is currently staying at the Gujarat Vidyapith, now holds the largest collection of Gandhian memorabilia, which he acquired from the descendants of Gandhiji — mainly his nephew, and a photographer, Kanu Gandhi and his wife Abha Gandhi. He had obtained them either for a song or under the pretext of holding exhibitions on Gandhiji in the West.

When DNA contacted him at Vidyapith on Saturday morning, Ruhe admitted that he had the world’s largest collection of original pictures of Bapu (12,000 and counting), and several precious memorabilia, whose details he was not ready to reveal. He has reached out to hundreds of people all over the globe to acquire all original letters and pictures in their possession. He admits that he gets at least one new picture or memorabilia every fortnight. Interestingly, he claims he may well “sell it all to the McDonald’s, what difference will it make!”

When asked why he does not bring Gandhiji’s things back to his homeland, Ruhe scoffed at the idea, saying that Gandhiji stayed for 21 years in South Africa, so how could India be his home. He attacked the Indian establishment, alleging that the country’s Gandhi institutes and the incumbent custodians were “unqualified” to preserve the Mahatma’s heritage and his material possessions, a task which he says he is carrying out very well.

“In the 1990s, we approached five Gandhi institutes in India to preserve the pictures taken by Kanu Gandhi, but all of them refused. National Archives agreed, but it was a tedious procedure,” he said. “Look at the condition of the Sabarmati Ashram, look at Amrut Modi; you think he is capable of preserving these things? You speak to Gujarat Vidyapith vice-chancellor [Sudarshan Iyengar] or go to Varsha Das of the National Gandhi museum; see how they handle and run the show. It is not of international standard. They lack a professional approach. Das is not professionally qualified to run a museum or carry out any archival work.”

Dr Varsha Das is the director of the National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi. It must be noted that Ruhe is a computer programmer by profession, and was associated with the German public services till 1998.

Iyengar is seething at the allegations. “If he [Ruhe] has to comment on how to manage these institutions, let me first ask him how he acquired these things [pictures and memorabilia] in the first place?” Iyengar said. “If he is calling himself a Gandhian, and these things constitute Gandhiji’s heritage, why is he charging money for it? He got these pictures by sweet-talking people in Gujarat, through unfair means, and is now making a fortune from it!”

Iyengar said he wanted a public confrontation with Ruhe on the claims. “He has surreptitiously sneaked into Vidyapith, and has not even made a courtesy call to the V-C,” Iyengar said.

A Sabarmati Ashram trustee, Kartikeya Sarabhai, refused to comment on Ruhe’s allegations, but the managing trustee, Amrut Modi, said that Ruhe had started a business with his collection of Gandhiji’s pictures. “We had no issues with his work; it is a good collection, but he is not the only one who has such pictures. It is just that others have not turned it into a business like he has.”