E-auction of PM’S gifts begins
NEW DELHI: The e-auction of mementos and gifts received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi attracted bidders as soon as it began on Saturday. For a silver chariot with five horses, priced at ₹15,000, the bid rose to ₹10 lakh during the day.
The memento was gifted to the Prime Minister by a Lucknowbased micro-financing company. Open to auction till October 3, it has registered 20 bids.
Over 2,772 such gifts received by the PM during his visits across India in the last six months are part of the e-auction that began on Saturday. The minimum reserved price for the items is ₹200 while the highest is ₹2.5 lakh. Proceeds from the sales go towards the Centre’s Ganga revival project, Namami Gange.
Union culture minister Prahthat lad Patel, who inaugurated the e-auction and simultaneous exhibition of about 500 of the mementos at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), said the value of the gifts cannot be measured in monetary terms. “It is the emotional and sentimental values attached to the gifts, which is immeasurable,” he said.
The NGMA exhibition was inaugurated by its director Adwaita Gadanayak who said the exhibits will be changed in the next week. “This will be done so the public is able to see all the mementos which will be sold. There is a sentiment attached to the items… people feel they are taking a slice of Modi ji’s life,” said the director. Gadanayak said that the auction moves completely online this time as it will lead to greater transparency.
Among the items that are currently under sale is a photograph of martyred rifleman Mohammad Aurangzeb, memento of Golden Temple on a pedestal with miniature light fixtures on it and a painting of the PM’S mother.
This is the second time that the PM’S gifts and mementos have gone under the hammer; in the first round in January, 1,800 items were sold during the auctions held between January 27 and 28. The exhibitions were held online and offline at the NGMA for over a month. A handcrafted wooden bike had attracted the highest bid of ₹5 lakh.