NEW DELHI — The wire-rimmed spectacles, pocketwatch and other personal possessions of India’s greatest independence-movement leader, Mohandas Gandhi, were sold Thursday at a controversial New York auction to an Indian industrialist, who said he will donate the items to India’s government.
Vijay Mallya, who owns a beer company, an international airline and a cricket team, bought the items for $1.8 million.
The opportunity to bid for Gandhi’s distinctive round spectacles, leather sandals, pocketwatch and a brass bowl and plate was rare because the austere leader had few possessions. News of the auction had outraged Indian officials, who pledged to either stall it or recover the items by bidding in it.
“I am a proud Indian. Gandhiji is the father of our nation, the nation that has made me who I am today, so I felt a sense of responsibility,” said Mallya, the 54-year-old owner of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines. “This will be my gift to the government of India.”
Mallya, who spoke from Europe, said he bid by phone through an associate on the auction floor but that no one from the Indian government had contacted him about doing so.
Gandhi, a renowned preacher of nonviolence, empowered millions of Indians to bring an end to more than 200 years of British colonial rule. Many Indians said the auction appeared to defy his teachings against the pursuit of materialism.
About 40 minutes before the auction began, James Otis, the seller of the memorabilia, told reporters he wanted to withdraw the items.
“I never intended for my actions to cause such controversy,” Otis said, “and I pray the outcome is positive and one that Gandhi would have approved of.”
