Mallya buys Gandhi's item for USD 1.8 million

Dharam Shourie

New York, March 6 (PTI) Hours after high drama and
frenzied bidding, Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings were
bought for USD 1.8 million (Rs 9.3 crore) by industrialist
Vijay Mallya, who said he "bidded for the country" at the
auction after last-ditch attempts by India to stall the sale
of the memorabilia fell through.

Just before the auction, owner of the items James Otis
had agreed to withdraw them from the auction but the auction
house did not agree. It argued that it could have a big
liability if it allowed the items to be withdrawn from the
auction as more than 30 bidders had already registered for
them and some have even sent in written bids.

As soon as the auctioneer announced sold, a large
number of Indian-Americans who had come to witness the auction
or to bid burst into loud round of applause. The auction
activity was suspended for several minutes as the community
leaders congratulated each other.

The community leaders expressed relief that the promise
of keeping Gandhi's iconic items, including his glasses,
sandals, pocket watch, plate and a bowl, in India has been
fulfilled.

But the sale would take two weeks to finalise.The
items would be kept with the Auctioneer for two weeks to
resolve any claims.

Tony Bedi, who bidded on behalf of Mallya said that he
was "bidding for the country" and this sale means that
Gandhi's items would now return to India.

The US Justice Department, whose intervention was
sought by the Indian government to implement the injunction
issued by the Delhi High Court against auction of Gandhi's
belongings, had earlier sent a notice to Antiquorum
Auctioneers that items be not transferred to the buyer and
kept in escrow account until it takes a view on the Indian
request. But it had allowed the auction go on.

Just before Gandhi's items went under hammer, the
auctioneer explained the position and said it plans to keep
the items for two weeks pending the decision of the Justice
Department.

Mallya's move came as a total surprise as his name was
never mentioned among those who might bid for the items. The
bid on the floor was made by his representative Bedi and it
was not until the auction was over that the liquor baron's
name surfaced to the surprise of everyone present.

One of the bidders was a South African, who was very
much interested in the items. Bids were received over the
phone and Internet from overseas. None of the bidders were
identified.

So much interest was aroused that the auctioneers
showed a small clip of Gandhi's everyday activities before
bringing his belongings to auction. And the bid increased so
fast that it was impossible to keep track.

Within three minutes, the bid had reached USD one
million. After that it slowed downed a bit but picked pace
against. Once it reached USD 1.8 million, the person
auctioning the items waited for quite a while before bringing
down the hammer.

Originally, Antiquorum Auctioneers had fixed the base
price of the items between USD 20,000 and 30,000 but the media
hype and interest shown by the Indian government helped to
shoot up the prices and bid itself began around USD 300,000.

After the auction, Chairman of the auction house
Robert Maron expressed satisfaction that the items would go
back to India and explained his position as to why the auction
could not be stopped.

For hours before the auction started, Indian
American leaders had consultations on the strategy at the
Indian Consulate here with top Indian diplomats including
Consul General Prabhu Dayal.

Talking to reporters, Sant Singh Chatwal, a leading
hotelier and community leader who took lead in the
negotiations, said it was decided that Indians would not bid
against one another as it would have sent up the price.

It was decided that Mallya would bid for the items,
Chatwal said, adding he had been in touch with him throughout.

Chatwal too had shown interest in bidding for the
items and repeatedly asserted that Indian American would not
allow them to be bought by a private collector.

During the auction process, Chatwal and Bedi were
sitting side by side and were seen consulting often.

Confusion over whether Otis could take the items off
the hammer prevailed with contradictory statements being made
by him. He had made a proposal with tough conditions to the
Indian government on Wednesday which, analysts said, were
impossible for New Delhi accept.

But even in the unlikely event of India accepting
Otis' proposal, in all probability, the auction still could
not have been stopped in view of the position taken by the
auctioneers and in terms of contract signed by him with them.

Though Otis' lawyer Ravi Batra said he would not take
any action for auctioneers going ahead with the auction
despite his last minute bid to stop it, the Antiquorum
officials assert that Otis has no case once he has handed over
the items to them for sale under the contact signed by him.
PTI DS
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