Dear Editor,
It was really sad to read that some of the personal effects
of Mahatma Gandhi had been put up for sale by auction by an American
collector. That there was a public outcry against such a sale is
understandable because these items are closely linked with the greatest
humanitarian of the twentieth century, whom we are proud to honour as the
Father of our Nation. What is very disturbing however, is the fact that
these items, which, in actual financial terms were not worth more than a
thousand Rupees went up for auction in a New York auction house. How on
earth did these items get out of the country in the first place, and who is
responsible for their sale to the American collector? Could not the
Government of India have bought them in India itself?
Now that an Indian business tycoon has bought them for $1.8
million is a paradox of unprecedented magnitude. Mahatma Gandhi himself,
who lived a very frugal and austere life - he did not even have a house of
his own - would have given these things away for free to some poor person
without a second thought. The paradox lies in the fact that $1.8 million
in foreign currency has left India to benefit an unscrupulous American
'collector' who made some very unreasonable demands of the Government of
India as a precondition to pull the items out of the auction.
Now that the sale has been concluded, we can perhaps comfort
ourselves that we have contributed to stimulating the American economy which
finds itself in such dire straits.
Yours truly,
Averthanus D'Souza,
D-13, La Marvel Colony,
Dona Paula, Goa 403 004.
