[Even if one assumes for a moment that it is is just not a cooked up cock and bull story that a "younger brother" gifted the suit to his "elder brother" on the occasion of the former's son's wedding; the facts remain that the "brothers" are just no "brothers" - and hence the "code of conduct" very much comes into play, and Modi wore it in Delhi while accompanying the US President - not at the said wedding (on Jan. 26th), which, obviously, he did not attend.
And, also relevant, at sl. no. III below: The Ganga, it is said, wipes away all sins. Certainly Narendra Modi must be hoping so as his bandhgala goes up for auction to raise funds for a cleaner Ganga. ... The Modi-Modi-everywhere suit was a political faux pas - an ostentatious and self-centred display of grandiosity that was at odds with his carefully cultivated image of the outsider who was the sevak of the people. That was a rare moment of sartorial overreach by a man with an impeccable sense of image management. "How can the PM wear something like that? I am Gareeb Max. Vote for honesty, vote for freedom, vote for free WIFI!" Tweeted Arvind Kerjiwal.] I/III. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Did-PM-Narendra-Modi-violate-code-of-conduct-by-accepting-suit/articleshow/46293691.cms Did PM Narendra Modi violate code of conduct by accepting suit? TNN | Feb 19, 2015, 03.15 AM IST NEW DELHI: Even as Gujarat businessman Rameshkumar Bhikabhai claimed on Wednesday that he had gifted the monogrammed suit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his "friend" of "four decades", the code of conduct for ministers issued by the home ministry clearly restrains both Union and state ministers from accepting a valuable gift unless it is from a close relative. ***"A minister should not accept valuable gifts except from close relatives, and he or members of his family should not accept any gifts at all from any person with whom he may have official dealings," reads the code of conduct applicable to Union ministers, chief ministers as well as state ministers.*** [Emphasis added.] READ ALSO: Diamond barons to place highest bid for Modi suit Businessman offers Rs 1.21 crore for Modi's pinstripe suit Auction of Modi suit a 'damage control' exercise: Congress The authority for ensuring observance of the code of conduct lies with the prime minister in the case of Union ministers, the prime minister and Union home minister in the case of chief ministers and the chief minister concerned in the case of state ministers. As per clause 4.2 of the code of conduct for ministers, a minister may receive gifts during his visits abroad or from foreign dignitaries in India. Such gifts fall into two categories. The first include gifts that are of symbolic nature, like a sword of honour or ceremonial robes, which can be retained by the minister. However, the second category of gifts, which are non-symbolic, may be retained only if their value is less than Rs 5,000. Gifts of a higher value must be deposited in the Toshakhana (government storehouse) or purchased by the recipient by paying the difference between value of the item as assessed by Toshakhana and Rs 5,000. Only household gifts retained by Toshakhana such as carpets, paintings, furniture exceeding Rs 5,000 are kept in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister's House or Raj Bhavan as State property. (PM Narendra Modi's monogrammed bandhgala suit on display in Surat where it is being auctioned for charity.) Bhikabhai has, in an interview to ANI, claimed that he gifted the suit to Modi to wear on his son's wedding. "I am from Gujarat. I presented this suit to him (Modi) when I attended the recent Vibrant Gujarat Summit. I gave it while extending an invitation to him to attend my son's wedding on January 26," he was quoted as saying. "I gave this gift to my elder brother (Modi) on behalf of my son. My son had this idea of making this monogrammed suit. He said he wanted to give a surprise to Modiji," Bhikabhai said adding that the Rs 10 lakh quoted for the suit was not the correct price. "My son does not have the guts to spend that kind of money," he claimed. Bhikabhai claimed that Modi, while accepting the suit as a gift, had promised to wear it but said he would later give it to charity. "The fact is that Modiji wore this (suit) on the day of my son's wedding on January 26," he told ANI. II/III. http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/02/18/narendra-modi-suit_n_6703726.html Meet The Man Who Gifted Modi His Monogrammed Suit HuffPost India | By Betwa Sharma Email Posted: 18/02/2015 15:58 IST Updated: 18/02/2015 17:40 IST The bidding war over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pinstriped suit, which carries his full name Narendra Damodardas Modi, crossed one crore on Wednesday. He wore the monogrammed black suit when the U.S. President Barack Obama visited India in January. Suresh Agrawal, a textile businessman bid Rs.1 crore for the suit on Wednesday morning. Viral Chowksi, a Gujarati NRI took the bid up to Rs1.11 crore by afternoon. The bidding will continue till Friday evening. Modi's suit is being sold at a three-day auction, along with 450 other gifts to the PM, to raise money for cleaning the river Ganga. Controversy has surrounded the monogrammed black suit, which was widely reported to have cost Rs.10 lakhs. In an interview with ANI, Rameshkumar Bhikabhai, a businessman from Gujarat, revealed the origins of the suit that had the nation and the media talking. Bhikabhai said that he gifted the suit to Modi to wear on his son's wedding. "I am from Gujarat. I presented this suit to him (Prime Minister Modi) when I attended the recent Vibrant Gujarat Summit. I gave it while extending an invitation to him to attend my son's wedding on January 26," Bhikabhai told the newswire. "My son's name is Smit Virani. I gave this gift to my elder brother (Modi) on behalf of my son. My son had this idea of making this monogrammed suit. He said he wanted to give a surprise to Modiji," he said. When pressed about whether suit cost Rs.10 lakhs, he said, "People can say anything. I can confirm that what is being said about its cost is not the correct amount. My son does not have the guts to spend that kind of money or that amount." Perhaps Modi did not anticipate the political damage that the seemingly harmless gift would render to the the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi elections. His political rivals from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress Party mocked the suit, and accused Modi of being in cahoots with big business. Arvind Kejriwal, chief of AAP, poised himself as the middle class saviour of the people, who was standing up against an elitist Modi. Rahul Gandhi, Vice President of the Congress Party, claimed that the suit was made in the United Kingdom. Bhikabhai, an NRI businessman, said that his friendship with Modi went back four decades, and he had insisted that the prime minister attends his son's wedding "as an elder of the family." "While accepting the suit as a gift, he told me that he (Prime Minister Modi) was very busy for the next two to three days, but promised to wear it. But he also said that he will give the suit to charity. I said that his accepting the suit from me was a big honour in itself, and it wasn't important for me as to what he did with it after wearing it," Bhikabhai said. "The fact is that Modiji wore this on the day of my son's wedding on January 26. It was a blessing for us. There can be no price attached to this," he said. III. http://www.firstpost.com/politics/pm-modis-suit-fetches-rs-1-25-cr-but-will-charity-wash-away-the-vanity-2105947.html PM Modi's suit fetches Rs 1.25 cr: But will charity wash away the vanity? by Sandip Roy Feb 19, 2015 10:11 IST The Ganga, it is said, wipes away all sins. Certainly Narendra Modi must be hoping so as his bandhgala goes up for auction to raise funds for a cleaner Ganga. Mr Modi has had fashion faux pas before. Not everyone can carry off that hornbill hat from Arunachal Pradesh with an airy sangfroid. Or that traditional outfit from Leh which made him look like a portly Indian businessman in a golden dressing gown with a grand vizier hat. But those were fashion faux pas. The Modi-Modi-everywhere suit was a political faux pas - an ostentatious and self-centred display of grandiosity that was at odds with his carefully cultivated image of the outsider who was the sevak of the people. That was a rare moment of sartorial overreach by a man with an impeccable sense of image management. "How can the PM wear something like that? I am Gareeb Max. Vote for honesty, vote for freedom, vote for free WIFI!" Tweeted Arvind Kerjiwal. Narendra Modi greets Barack Obama in his pinstriped suit. ReutersNarendra Modi greets Barack Obama in his pinstriped suit. Reuters Now by putting it up for auction for a good cause, along with 455 other gifts he received, Modi hopes to make lemonade out of that lemon. The suit started off with bids for Rs 51 lakh and 1 crore and 1.11 crore, finally going to NRI businessman Viral Chowksi,for Rs 1.1 crore An NRI businessman? But of course. Suresh Aggarwal who made the 1 crore offer told the Hindu "I have offered Rs 1 crore. This is work of charity and when the Prime Minister is doing for a great cause like the cleaning of the Ganga, I decided to go ahead and buy the suit." That should shut his critics up. Except what next? The PM could make himself a diamond-encrusted gold crown and then auction it off for flood victims and earn kudos? It sends out precisely the wrong message -- that an exorbitantly priced sartorial choice is okay because it fulfills the old adage that in order to make money you must first spend a lot of it. A suit like that draws so much attention you cannot really wear it twice like any other pin stripe. It ceases to be a special occasion standard because everybody remembers it thus rendering it a one-time novelty. One just wonders what these good businessmen who were bidding on this suit meant to do with. Hopefully they were not planning to roam around town in it like a walking talking incantation of the PM. But it does point to the cult status of Modi that everything he touches, even briefly, becomes a commodity. It is part of the greater story of the commodification of Modi. In an aspirational India he remains the brand to aspire to. There are long-sleeved kurtas with the NaMo Mantra inscribed on it. There is the NaMo store in Ahmedabad. Modi Lion toys. Even Barack Obama said he wanted a Modi kurta and said that the PM was a "style icon". And after the successful building of Brand Modi it's only natural that it is now a commodity that can be cashed in. In the old socialist India, apart from the Nehru jacket there was little about the political leaders that could be commoditised. So they showed their power by their names becoming part of government schemes and programmes. Or by taking over the name of a street. But that was a kind of power the aam aadmi could never aspire to. Only someone with real connections could get a street named after him, Rajesh Pilot being a good example. His main claim to fame was always "Friend of Rajiv Gandhi". But Modi is part of a commoditisation that is accessible to everyone who has the money to indulge in it. As I have said before "Brand Modi becomes an act of reflection with the multiplying effect of a hall of mirrors. As Modi stands at the rally, beaming, waving to the crowd, the jubilant crowd gazes back at him draped in NaMo paraphernalia - Modi masks, Modi t-shirts, Modi-kurtas." A Modi mask can cost just a few rupees, a Modi suit 1.11 crore but they both represent the coming together of our insatiable hunger for brands and our appetite for politics. For the right price that commodity can belong to any of us as well. It's commendable that the suit is not going to just hang in some closet, no longer used though not forgotten. India might be a little cleaner thanks to it but just because it now has a new charitable avatar does not mean it wipes the slate clean of its original vanity. That remains written all over it. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
