'Manuscript in London is not Gandhi's last writing'

NEW DELHI: The rare manuscript of Mahatma Gandhi written 19 days before his assassination, which was held back from auction in London by Christie's, was not the last piece authored by him.

"This is not his last manuscript. In our collections, we have a similar handwritten draft, which is dated January 12, 1948. We also have another document of January 27, 1948," Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) Director Mirdula Mukherjee said on Tuesday.

She said it is for the Ahmedabad-based Navjivan Trust to decide whether NMML should keep the manuscript when the government gets it back from Britain.

"We have one of the largest collection of Gandhiji's memorabilia," she said.

"It is for the Trust to decide whether we are the best institution to preserve the writings of Gandhiji. They have reposed their trust with us a number of times. And we are hopeful that this time too they will trust us," she said.

Describing the move to bring back the manuscript back to India as "a big victory for India and the Indian government", she said. "Now there was no danger of it going into private hands".

The Christie's agreed to withdraw the Mahatma's manuscript from auction so that the Indian government can acquire it.

The Christie's had earlier fixed a reserve price of 9,000 to 12,000 pounds for Gandhiji's manuscript written on January 11, nineteen days before his assassination, and which was published in his journal 'Harijan'.

India's decision to make a bid for the manuscript started after reports from London said it was a letter and not a handwritten manuscript of the Father of the nation, Mukherjee said.

"When the picture became clear, we knew that we would be able to procure the manuscript as we did in 1996 when we served a legal notice to a British auction house for trying to sell a manuscript of Gandhiji's," Mukherjee said, adding that India was planning to serve a legal notice on the auction house to stop the sale.

Mukherjee said in 1996 London-based Phillips Sons and Neale stopped the auction after they were served a legal notice by the Indian High Commission that the manuscript was "stolen property" and the ownership lies with Navjiwan Trust.

The manuscripts reached the auction house after Gandhiji's typist, V Kalayanam passed it to a temple and gave them permission to sell it to raise money to build a temple in Hawai.

The Indian government filed a case in Chennai and in London to stop the auction.

The Chennai court passed an injunction and ordered the auction house to stop the sale.

"Following the order, a legal settlement was entered into between the auctioneer, Navjiwan Trust and other parties. The manuscripts were then given to India," she said.

Mukherjee said the Trust decided to hand over the manuscript to the museum as they had the means to preserve them.

"We are hoping that no money will be exchanged this time too to acquire the manuscript," she said.

The handwritten article was published in 'Harijan'.