The other Gandhi items in his possession include a 1934 letter written in green crayon and signed Bapu, and the Mahatma’s last pathological blood report.
US collector James Otis has offered to donate a few more of Mahatma Gandhi’s belongings to India provided New Delhi agrees to his proposal to substantially increase its spending on healthcare for the poor. “I have other Gandhi belongings. I would like to donate more items to the people of India to raise money for the poor,” said the Los Angeles based activist whose collection of five Gandhi items was bought by Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya in a New York auction for $1.8 million.
The other Gandhi items in his possession include a 1934 letter written in green crayon and signed Bapu, and the Mahatma’s last pathological blood report signed by D. BL Taneja of the Irwin
Hospital nine days before his assassination.
The letter reads: “My dear Dorothy, Thank god the fast went off as well as it did. I am slowly but steadily gaining strength. Love. Bapu. 1934.”
Otis said he also has a 1924 telegram addressed to Gandhi by one Enayatullah, managing agent Tai company, Karachi with the Mahatma’s scribbled response. The telegram reads: “Please stay with me when you come to Karachi. It will be good for noble cause.” To which Gandhi responds: “Thanks but before I come... I must know the cause...”
His colleague Lester Kurtz, a professor at George Mason University who also has a collection of Gandhi memorabilia, would also like to donate a unique sample of Gandhi’s blood from the site of his assassination mixed with ashes from his cremation.
Otis said they had not yet approached the Indian government with a fresh proposal that essentially remains the same that he had mooted to withdraw the Gandhi items from the New York auction.
Otis feels the priceless treasure should have fetched at least $10 million for the cause of the underprivileged. As for the auctioned items, it was now for the US government to determine whether it’ll go to the Indian government or the buyer. People can put in their legal claims like the Indian govt, he said.
But “I am not resisting as I have signed a legal contract with the auction house”, said Otis who had at the last minute made an abortive bid to withdraw his collection from the New York auction Thursday.
Asked what happened in the hours leading up to the auction amid high drama, Otis said he had gone to the auction house to stop it. But the owner of
Antiquorum Auctioneers did not agree since he had signed a legal contract.
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