India steps in to prevent Gandhi auction
India has stepped in to prevent several of freedom leader Mahatma Gandhi's possessions, including his iconic round glasses, from being auctioned off next month in New York, a report said Friday.
"Whatever can be done is being done to ensure that articles are not auctioned by involving all concerned stakeholders," Culture Minister Ambika Soni told the Press Trust of India news agency.
A culture ministry official said the government had approached the various owners of Gandhi's belongings to ask them to "offer the items to the government on the basis of honour and due acknowledgement," according to the news agency.
The owners include the daughter of one of Gandhi's nieces, who authorised a German collector to give them to the auction house Antiquorum Auctioneers.
The official said there were two other options -- asking for the items to be withdrawn from the auction so the government could buy them or asking US Indians to buy them and donate them to India to be put in a museum.
A special government committee is working on how to reclaim the pieces, given an estimated value of between 20,000 and 30,000 dollars.
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