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New Delhi: Mahatma
Gandhi's descendants have expressed regret over the forthcoming
auction of a "clump of soil with drops of the Mahatma's blood
collected from the site of his assassination" by the British
auction house Mullock's.
"The auctioning of the clump of soil with a few claimed drops of
Mahatma Gandhi's blood sounds reprehensible...morbid. But if the
ownership of the other objects like the glasses, letters and a
spinning wheel are valid, I don't see how can you stop private
auctions from selling them. But their ownership has to be verified
and validated," Tushar Gandhi, the Mahatma's great-grandson, told
IANS.
Mullock's, which often auctions objects related to Indian
heritage, said the Gandhi memorabilia to go under the hammer is
likely to generate Rs.85 lakh.
The objects include a clump of soil with Gandhi's blood collected
by a bystander, P.P. Nambiar, soon after his assassination with
provenance, a pair of glasses which Gandhi bought in Britain, his
personal prayer book, signed letters and a spinning wheel.
Tushar Gandhi, who runs the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, a
not-for-profit organisation, said the "generation which kept the
mementos reverentially is no more, but the generation which has
inherited it look at as of commercial value".
"It is up to the legal ownership to decide. Not everything is of
historical value," he said.
Tushar Gandhi said "the government was always caught unaware about
such auctions and woke up after the auctions were over".
"Last time, I tried to generate pressure on the government about a
sale of Mahatma Gandhi's bowls and plates in New York. Many common
Indians took it up as a matter of national pride," he said.
He said the government should issue missives to the international
auction houses that "whenever auctions of objects of national
heritage (pertaining to icons like Mahatma Gandhi) come up, the
government should be notified and the authenticity of the objects
verified".
Tara Gandhi-Bhattacharjee, the grand-daughter of Mahatma Gandhi,
said "the souvenirs should not be auctioned".
"It is a pity that we cannot stop it. It is wrong to auction them.
The auction is ironical because Gandhi was a classical and an
original minimalist. If people want to donate to charity, they
can," Gandhi-Bhattacharjee, the vice-chairperson of the Gandhi
Smriti, Gandhi Darshan and the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial
Trust, told IANS.
She said "if we cannot hold him in spirit, what is point of
selling memorabilia of a man who was an apostle of non-violence
and peace".
"If we have no consciouness about the human values (he cherished),
what is the idea behind this sale? It has to reach the needy,
which is not just the poor but those in need of love, laughter and
food. It can even be a person travelling in car," she said.
"Put it in a museum and forget it... But we cant stop the flow of
future. Gandhi is now globalised and we cannot control the
elements - people's love for Gandhi. They have realised the way to
exploit it now. We have no control on his legacy. We must look
within us to see who Gandhi was," his grand-daughter said.
Commenting on the sale, a senior official of the culture ministry
told IANS that they "don't participate in such auctions".
"The ministry has a policy not to encourage such sales, but the
government cannot stop a private auction," the official said.
In 2009, business tycoon and MP Vijay Mallya bought Gandhi's
memorabilia worth Rs 9.3 crore at an auction in New York.
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