Friday, June 29, 2007 (New Delhi)
A seven-page letter signed by Father of the Nation M K Gandhi goes under the hammer on July 3 in London.
Nineteen days before he fell to an assassin's bullets, a seven-page letter was written by Mahatma Gandhi in which he calls for tolerance towards Muslims and Urdu.
While time is fast running out for the Indian government, the pressure to get the manuscript back is mounting.
The Ministries of Culture and External affairs held a series of meetings on Thursday. On Friday, the Prime Minister's office is going to take the final call on how to do it. The options are:
Bid through organisations like the Nehru Museum and Library, as the government doesn't normally participate in auctions.
Ask the sale to be stopped by contesting the title of the manuscripts as the government feels the title of the manuscript is dubious.
The government can even seek an injunction against the sale.
Sources in the government say the manuscript perhaps has the same source as another lot of Gandhi papers that were up for sale in England in 1997 by the auction house Phillips.
An old picture shows L M Singhvi, the then Indian High Commissioner to the UK, receiving Gandhi's manuscripts.
This after he raised doubts about the title of Gandhi's papers, as all Gandhi writings are the property of Navjeevan Trust, as per Gandhi's last will dated February 20, 1940.
Surprisingly, sources in the Ministry of Culture and the Nehru Museum say the government acted late as it felt that the manuscript was not significant.
But those who know Gandhi say, once sold the manuscript will be lost forever.
Nineteen days before he fell to an assassin's bullets, a seven-page letter was written by Mahatma Gandhi in which he calls for tolerance towards Muslims and Urdu.
While time is fast running out for the Indian government, the pressure to get the manuscript back is mounting.
The Ministries of Culture and External affairs held a series of meetings on Thursday. On Friday, the Prime Minister's office is going to take the final call on how to do it. The options are:
Bid through organisations like the Nehru Museum and Library, as the government doesn't normally participate in auctions.
Ask the sale to be stopped by contesting the title of the manuscripts as the government feels the title of the manuscript is dubious.
The government can even seek an injunction against the sale.
Sources in the government say the manuscript perhaps has the same source as another lot of Gandhi papers that were up for sale in England in 1997 by the auction house Phillips.
An old picture shows L M Singhvi, the then Indian High Commissioner to the UK, receiving Gandhi's manuscripts.
This after he raised doubts about the title of Gandhi's papers, as all Gandhi writings are the property of Navjeevan Trust, as per Gandhi's last will dated February 20, 1940.
Surprisingly, sources in the Ministry of Culture and the Nehru Museum say the government acted late as it felt that the manuscript was not significant.
But those who know Gandhi say, once sold the manuscript will be lost forever.
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