THRISSUR: Allowing industrialist Vijay Mallya to bid for Mahatma Gandhi’s personal belongings at the auction held recently in New York was a shame on the whole nation, said Gandhian and retired school teacher Antony Chittattukkara.
Talking to Express, Antony said that it was unfortunate that the Government of India did not consider it worth paying for the personal belongings of the Father of our Nation. Considering their sentimental value, the memorabilia were priceless.
He pointed out that the personal belongings of Gandhiji, who had said that after independence the first thing he would like to do is to declare prohibition in the country, had to be brought back to the nation by an industrialist whose main business is the manufacture of Indian made foreign liquor.
Antony is in possession of 10 letters written by Gandhiji. A foldable wooden charkha carried by Gandhiji wherever he went and about five grams of soil soaked in Gandhiji’s blood, collected from the spot of his assassination, were the other items in Antony’s possession.
Residing at Nambazhakkad, near Guruvayur, Antony holds these articles close to his heart.
He said that till the end of his life he would keep them with him for their sentimental value, even if someone offered the moon for them. He said that while the foldable charkha is kept under lock and key at his residence, the handwritten letters of Gandhiji are safe in a bank locker.
Antony said he had procured the letters and the charkha from N P Raghava Poduval, who was an inmate of Sabarmathi Ashram. He said that Poduval had participated with Gandhiji in the Dandi march and was the Mahatma’s close associate. After Gandhiji’s assassination, Poduval returned to his native village at Mahadevamangalam in Palakkad district, and was working in a khadi centre there.
He said that the soil soaked in Gandhiji’s blood was procured from C P Nambiar, a subedar present at the spot when Gandhiji was assassinated.