The manuscript of Mahatma Gandhi written 19 days before his assassination, which was saved from going under the hammer in London by Christie’s, might be a rare one but certainly not the last piece authored by him.
Revealing this Mridula Mukherjee, Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), an autonomous body which was asked by the Ministry of Culture to bid for the manuscript, said the museum had a similar handwritten draft dated January 12, 1948.
“We also have another document of January 27, 1948,” she said on Tuesday.
Maintaining that NMML had one of the largest collection of Gandhiji’s works, the eminent historian said the Ahmedabad-based Navjivan Trust should decide whether NMML should keep the manuscript when the government gets it back from Britain.
Preserve writings
“It is for the Trust to decide whether we are the best institution to preserve the writings of Gandhiji. They have reposed their trust with us a number of times. And we are hopeful that this time too they will trust us,”she said.
Describing the move to bring back the manuscript back to India as “a big victory for India and the Indian government,” she said “now there was no danger of it going into private hands”. The Christie’s agreed to withdraw the Mahatma's manuscript from auction so that the Indian government can acquire it.
The Christie’s had earlier fixed a reserve price of 9,000 to 12,000 pounds for Gandhiji’s manuscript written on January 11, nineteen days before his assassination, and which was published in his journal Harijan.
India’s decision to make a bid for the manuscript started after reports from London said it was a letter and not a handwritten manuscript of the Father of the Nation, Ms Mukherjee said.
“When the picture became clear, we knew that we would be able to procure the manuscript as we did in 1996 when we served a legal notice to a British auction house for trying to sell a manuscript of Gandhiji’s,” she said, adding that India was planning to serve a legal notice on the auction house to stop the sale.
Stolen property
Ms Mukherjee said in 1996 London-based Phillips Sons and Neale stopped the auction after they were served a legal notice by the Indian High Commission that the manuscript was “stolen property” and the ownership lies with Navjivan Trust.
The manuscripts reached the auction house after Gandhiji’s typist, V Kalayanam passed it to a temple and gave them permission to sell it to raise money to build a temple in Hawaii. The Indian government filed a case in Chennai and in London to stop the auction.
Injuction
The Chennai court passed an injunction and ordered the auction house to stop the sale. “Following the order, a legal settlement was entered into between the auctioneer, Navjivan Trust and other parties. The manuscripts were then given to India,” she said.
Ms Mukherjee said the Trust decided to hand over the manuscript to the museum as they had the means to preserve them.
“We are hoping that no money will be exchanged this time too to acquire the manuscript,” she said.