BackBidding war erupts over Modi’s suit, price tops `1.2 crore
Suit being auctioned along with 455 items to generate funds for Clean Ganga Mission
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Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much talked-about pinstripe monogrammed suit witnessed a bidding war, with three businessmen offering at least ₹ 1 crore each on the first day of an auction held in Surat on Wednesday. The suit is being auctioned along with 454 other items received by Modi in India and abroad in the nearly nine months he has been prime minister. Money raised from the three-day auction will go into the government’s Clean Ganga mission.
The prime minister wore the black bandhgala that carries his full name Narendra Damodardas Modi, during the US President Barack Obama’s visit to India last month. It created a controversy, with media reports claiming it would have cost about ₹ 10 lakh.
Rajesh Juneja, a 57-year-old, Surat-based industrialist, working in the textile sector made the highest bid of ₹ 1.21 crore.
“My bid is for support of Modiji and Clean Ganga project. If I win, I intend to keep the suit as a memento. I will not wear the suit as it is a mark of respect to Modiji," Juneja said over the phone.
Earlier in the day, Suresh Agrawal, another textile businessman bid ₹ 1 crore for the suit while Viral Chowksi, a non-resident Indian (NRI) took the bid up to ₹ 1.11 crore.
The suit has been tailored at Ahmedabad-based men’s clothing chain Jade Blue, which is known for designing clothes for Modi.
“There is no base price for the prime minister’s articles as they are his personal property and haven’t been evaluated," said Rajendra Kumar, district collector, Surat.
The event was organized at Surat Municipal Corporation’s Science Convention Centre after the prime minister’s office (PMO) decided to hold the auction in the city.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which swept the Delhi assembly election, had criticized Modi for wearing the expensive suit and accused him of being associated with big business houses.
Rahul Gandhi, vice-president of the Congress, claimed that the suit was made in the UK while taking a dig at prime minister’s Make in India campaign.
In an interview to ANI, Rameshkumar Bhikabhai, a businessman from Gujarat, said he presented the suit to Modi at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January. Bhikhabhai told the news agency that he wanted the the prime minister to wear the suit at his son’s wedding on 26 January.
Asked if the suit cost ₹ 10 lakh, he said, “People can say anything. I can confirm that what is being said about its cost is not the correct amount. My son does not have the guts to spend that kind of money or that amount."
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) too criticised the auction, saying it was a damage control exercise. “This is DCPR—Damage Control Public Relations. This has nothing to do with the Ganga cleaning," party leader Derek O’Brien said in a tweet on Wednesday.
The proceeds from the auction will be deposited with the Namami Gange fund, part of the Clean Ganga Mission announced by Modi in September 2014. The fund is also part of the Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission set up with a seed fund of ₹ 2,037 crore.
The auction organized by the Gujarat government will also see about 350 gifts made to Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel go under the hammer.
During his chief ministerial tenure in Gujarat, Modi had started the practice of annual auctions of gifts that he had received.
The proceeds went to the state’s Kanya Kelavani Yojana for girl child education.
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