A prominent businessman from the city on Friday announced that he has acquired 29 items of Mahatma Gandhi memorabilia at a recent auction in the UK. “I am delighted to acquire the items, which are of national interest. I would happier had the government acquired them,” Kamal Morarka, former Union minister and publisher, said. Morarka plans to bring the memorabilia, which he acquired through a leading auction house, to India soon.
“I am not aware if customs duty will be charged on these items,” he said here. Asked how much he paid to acquire these items, Mr Morarka said the amount exceeded a hundered thousand pounds.
“It would not have been a big expenditure on part of the government to spend `80 to 90 lakh to acquire these items at the auction,” he said.
The memorabilia includes blades of grass and soil pigmented with blood of Mahatma Gandhi and retrieved from Birla House in Delhi, where he was assassinated in 1948. The purchase was done through the Kamal Morarka Foundation for the Arts. The sale was done by Mullock’s, a Shropshire-based auctioneer.
The items include one of Gandhi’s early pairs of iconic spectacles, the famous wooden “charkha” (spinning wheel) he used, a prayer book signed by Gandhi and also several letters and other documents pertaining to Gandhi’s life. Asked where he intended to display the items, Mr Morarka said, “I would be happy if the government displays them in a national museum in Delhi. The purchase is not a commercial decision but an emotional one,” he said.