Auctioned for `4.31 crore, Modi’s suit enters Guinness Book

The monogrammed suit donned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meeting with United States President Barack Obama in New Delhi last year entered the Guinness World Records as “the most expensive suit sold at auction”.

The suit had gone under the hammer in February last year and was purchased for `4.31 crore by Surat-based diamond trader Lalji Patel, who owns Dharmananda Diamond Company.

“It is a matter of pride that the suit has found a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. We had applied for the record around five months back. Within a couple of months, we received a certificate acknowledging that it was the world’s most expensive suit sold at an auction,” Hitesh Patel, son of Laljibhai, said on Saturday.

The suit, which has stripes with ‘Narendra Damodardas Modi’ woven into it in gold letters, was reportedly prepared at a cost of Rs10 lakh. The money raised from the auction of the suit has been earmarked for the Centre’s clean Ganga mission.

After successfully bidding for the suit, owner Laljibhai Patel had told the media that he wanted to do something for the country and this auction gave him a chance.

“I always wanted to do something in the interest of country. This event gave me a chance to do something in national interest, in this case for Clean Ganga Mission. I never thought that this incredible suit will finally come to me,” he had then said.

The suit, which Modi had worn during Obama’s three-day state visit to India in January last year, had kicked up a political row with opposition parties accusing the Prime Minister of ‘narcissism’.

HT