Owner to meet Indian officials on Gandhi`s memorabilia

Dharam Shourie

New York, Mar 4 (PTI) The US-based owner of Mahatma
Gandhi memorabilia, up for auction here on Thursday, has said
that he will meet with Indian government officials Wednesday
to try to settle the issue.

James Otis told CNN that he hopes the Indian
government is "willing to offer something very generous to
India's poorest in exchange for the donation of the items to
the government."

"I would hope that the Indian government would offer
something as great as Gandhi's cause," Otis said in Los
Angeles. He said he will travel to New York to meet with
Indian officials.

"I will ask the Indian government if they would do a
great gesture to the poorest of India, like those that we've
all seen in 'Slumdog Millionaire,'" Otis said, referring to
the Academy Award-winning film.

If the Indian government does not "step up" and make
an offer, Otis said he plans to auction the items -- which
include Gandhi's famous metal-rimmed glasses -- on Thursday
and donate the proceeds "to promote Gandhi's great words and
actions."

Otis had told PTI that he would consider donating the
items free if the government announced plans to spend five per
cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the poor and some
other such major scheme.

"The majority of the money that is received from this
auction will be going to non-violence causes, causes that will
promote the discussion and the debate about non-violence," he
told CNN. "That is where I believe Gandhi would have hoped
this money would have gone."

Otis said he did not fully understand the outrage over
the planned auction because Gandhi was not interested in
material possessions, many of his belongings are already in
India's museums, and Gandhi himself had often auctioned off
gifts that he had received to raise money for the poor."

"I understand the anger that people want his
treasures, his national treasures," Otis said.

"I hope they understand that if the Indian government
does step up and do it as a grand gesture... to help poorest
of poor, I think they would understand and feel that Gandhi's
work is being achieved through these possessions being
auctioned off." PTI