NRIs buy Gandhi letters in UK auction, to return them to India

H S Rao

London, July 14 (PTI) A series of letters and postcards
signed and autographed by Mahatma Gandhi were bought in an
auction here Tuesday by two leading NRIs, who will present the
precious documents to the government of India.

NRI entrepreneurs Sir Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon and Prof Nat
Puri bid for the priceless letters and postcards almost for
double the pre-sale estimates at London auctioner Sotheby's.

A series of 29 letters and four autograph notes signed by
Jawaharlal Nehru for friend Mridula Sarabhai, together with a
signed document, a signed greeting card and 29 envelopes
(estimated price 4,000-5,000 pounds or Rs 3.17-3.97 lakh) also
sold for 8,750 pounds, but it was not known who was the buyer.


Curry King Sir Noon told PTI he telephonically bid for
the Gandhi articles and bought them for around 10,000 pounds.

The first lot comprised Gandhi's three autographed
letters to Maulana Abdul Bari, an Islamic scholar and leading
figure in the Khilafat movement, in Urdu. The letters referred
to Hindu-Muslim relations, including communal tension in
Lucknow, their personal friendship and in one letter writing
from prison with thanks for the gift of cotton for spinning.

Maulana Abdul Bari (1878-1926) worked closely with
Gandhi from 1918 onwards.

The second lot comprised a piece of Khadi cloth signed by
Gandhi and said to have been woven by him. The hand-woven
white cotton piece (420x390mm) with a simple purple border was
signed by Gandhi in Gujarati.

The cloth, which was a gift from Gandhi to South
African-born actress Moira Lister, had an estimated price of
2,000-2,500 pounds (Rs 1.59-1.99 lakh). Lister was a friend of
Maharani of Jaipur Gayatri Devi.

The third lot consisted of two autographed postcards
addressed to Hamid Ullah Afsar in Urdu, thanking him for his
letters and advising him that previous letters had answered
his questions. Asfar (1895-1974) was a prominent Urdu poet.

Sir Noon said he was extremely happy that he could get
the treasured letters and postcards. "Mahatma Gandhi is an
icon not only for India but for the world. His treasure should
go back to India," he said.


On two previous occasions, Sir Noon in partnership with
Puri and Lord Raj Bagri had bought Gandhi's letters that had
gone under the hammer and handed them over to New Delhi.

On July 15, 1998, letters by the Mahatma to Islamic
scholar Bari, were bought at a Sotheby's auction by Sir Noon
and carpet czar Nat Puri for 21,000 pounds. The letters were
later presented to the then President K R Narayanan.

On another occasion, Sir Noon had bought another set of
Gandhi documents along with Lord Bagri, former chairman of the
London Metal Exchange, for 14,000 pounds at an auction.

Both the Indian government and Tushar Gandhi, great
grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, had opposed the New York auction
of Gandhi artefacts in March this year. The items were bought
by liquor baron Vijay Mallya for 1.8 million dollars, who said
he had "bid for the country". PTI HSR/RA
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