I exclaimed twice when the TV bludgeoned that Gandhiji's memrablia had been purchased by the Liquor Baron Vijay Mallya and that they would be given to the government. Once, after knowing the amount (just $1.8 m or INR 90m), because there was not one soul in this country who could afford this much of money for saving a memory whereas parties spent billions in elections and advertisements. The Congress Party which had the greatest opportunity of claiming Gandhiji as its own just did not wink an eyelid. The government was mired in its bureacracy and lethargy rather than acting quickly. No other businessman who has amassed wealth from this country could think of shelling out just 90m rupees or was not willing.
I shouted the second time because the saviour is none other than the industrialist Vijay Mallya and the irony is that most of his income comes from the liquor business which Gandhiji wanted people to move away from. As the Tamil proverb goes, the money got by selling a dog will not bark. But more than that by such an act, can we treat Mallya to have wiped out a significant part of what we consider as 'Sin' of manufacturing liquor? My biggest cheer for this man is that he did it without publicity and very discreetly whereas many chatter boxes were making huge noise of participating in the auction and bidding for the items. Hats off to you Mallya or will this be better --- Three cheers to you Mallya!!!!
(The writer is a teetotaller but has moved a lot among 'drinkers')
When I look at the late night news, Ambika Soni, the Culture (definitely not Cultured) Minister says that The Indian Government was always in touch with Mallya's representatives and got it executed through him. Promptly comes the denial that no one ever contacted him before or after the auction. Just like he took back Tipu's sword, out of his own interest, Mallya has taken this. Shameless creatures, these!!!
==== Article by Santosh Desai in TOI dated 8th Mar 2009
"Now that India is affluent, who dare buy our ancestral heritage even if we do not fully care about it personally? Gandhi is ours to ignore, and by god, we shall put good money to protect that right."
"We treat Gandhi as many parts of the world treat their women, with an air of proprietary indifference"
"For there is no question that we have no particular desire to be reminded of Gandhi and his ideas. Buying back his glasses for crores of rupees is an act of naked tokenism. But the manner of doing so is richly symbolic. As it turns out, what this symbol points to has nothing to do with Gandhi. Could we have bought back Gandhi’s things and sold Gandhi down the river? "