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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pinstripe monogrammed suit saw a bid of a whopping Rs 1.21 crore on Wednesday, and it is likely it will fetch a higher price by the time a three-day auction in Surat concludes on Friday evening. Proceeds from the auction of the suit and 455 other gifts received by Modi during his term as prime minister will go towards the Namami Ganga, or Clean Ganga, project.
Of the gifts being auctioned, some have been given by Indians, some by visiting foreign dignitaries and the rest received during visits abroad.
The Congress criticised the auction, alleging the prime minister had violated government conduct rules in accepting an “expensive” gift of a monogrammed suit. It asked whether any “quid pro quo” was involved with the person who had gifted it. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, said no rules were violated, as the suit had been gifted by an old family friend of Modi.
On Wednesday, Rajesh Juneja, a textile businessman, submitted a written bid of Rs 1.21 crore for the suit, the top bid of the day. No base price has been fixed for any of the auction items, which include 361 gifts received by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
The first bid for Modi’s suit was of Rs 11 lakh, by a Surat-based chartered accountant. At a public rally in Delhi at the end of January, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had said Modi had worn a suit worth “Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakh)”.
The PM had worn the suit, which has his full name — Narendra Damodardas Modi — weaved into the fabric, for a meeting with US President Barack Obama in New Delhi’s Hyderabad House on January 25. His choice of attire had drawn criticism from opposition parties and on social media. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had called Modi a “megalomaniac”.
On Wednesday, a non-resident Indian businessman, Ramesh B Virani, who claimed to have participated in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, said he had gifted the cloth to Modi when he had invited the prime minister for his son’s wedding. “I had asked him to wear the suit for my son’s wedding,” Virani said. Expressing inability to attend the wedding, Modi had said he would donate the suit, Virani claimed.
Ajay Maken, head of the Congress’s communications cell, said the prime minister had violated rules governing the conduct of ministers. “What if the recipient was a bureaucrat? Would not the government have directed the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to inquire whether any quid pro quo was intended or already done in the past?” asked Maken, alluding to how former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha had left his office amid a controversy on hosting his “friend” and meat exporter Moin Qureshi. The party said the suit was a “cruel joke” on the poor of India, adding it had shamed the office of the prime minister, not just nationally but globally. Maken said it wasn’t for the PM to decide how such gifts were to be disposed.
BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said the Congress was highlighting a non-issue. “This isn’t the first. As the CM of Gujarat, Modiji annually auctioned all the gifts he received, proceeds from which were donated for educating girl children from poor families. But the Congress, a party of the rich and elite, cannot appreciate such sacrifice,” he said. Sharma claimed the gift was “personal”.
Two sets of rules govern whether government servants, including ministers, can retain a gift or not. Gifts from foreigners come under the ‘Foreign Contribution (Acceptance or Retention of Gifts or Presentation) Rules, 2012. According to these, government servants have to inform the secretary of the department or ministry concerned within 30 days of the receipt of a gift and provide the details of the foreign source, the date and place of receipt and the gift’s approximate market value.
The recipient is entitled to retain gifts worth less than Rs 5,000; gifts priced more than that can be purchased by paying the differential. Gifts unclaimed by the recipient are deposited with the ‘Toshakhana’, under the Ministry of External Affairs. These are either auctioned or displayed at government buildings.
Conduct rules bar government servants or any members of their family from accepting gifts from Indian nationals other than “relatives”, “close friends” and with whom he/she has “no official dealings” and only on religious occasions and functions such as “weddings and anniversaries”. If the price of a gift is above a specified limit, government servants have to inform superiors. The external affairs ministry routinely posts a list of gifts the PM receives during foreign visits or from foreign dignitaries visiting India.
