Vijay Mallya buys Gandhi items for $1.8 million

[ksethuram]

VM is a businessman who has his sentiments close to his heart. Hats off to him.

[v1p3r]

Wow, now I'm sure all our country's problems will be solved.

[speed0mania]

Thumbs up for VJM!! He's a true patriot! And no-one with any statement can take that away from him! He acted when even the govt. couldn't!
It doesn't matter what Gandhi's preferences were, I ask all of you advocating Gandhi being a non drinker and you following suit, Do you have all the qualities of Gandhi? No, cause You're not Gandhi.
So Just cause, VJM makes liquor doesn't make him respect Gandhi or our nation any lesser! And he's proved that time and again!
Bravo!!

[Brabus E V12]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Will there be customs duties imposed on these items when they are brought in?
Now that the government says it has bought it indirectly, will it come through without laws being applied to it?

There was news that Tipu's sword is not in India because customs does not waive the duties. VJM has said he is not going to bring it back unless government drops the duties on such items (It actually came in and left India again)

How typical of the bunch of nincompoops aka government of India we have! Fine you swindled away the money kept aside for the auction, but atleast let the guy who bought it bring it back to India without any hassles.

Besides we are not talking about a personal possession here. Its our country's heritage for God's sake!

[ECM]

If I remember right our govt did not levy any duty to a sportsman who won a car in mini w.cup in 1983 in Australia.Funny laws we have!

Will there be customs duties imposed on these items when they are brought in?

[Samurai]

When Mallya tried to bring Tipu's sword back to India, the Indian customs were dumb enough to demand duty for it. It is India's heritage item coming back to India and the government didn't waive the duty. So it remains abroad.

Now what happens to Gandhi's stuff, will the government impose custom duty again?

[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

Wow, now I'm sure all our country's problems will be solved.

The humour in this one liner is fantastic, just class, loved it!!!

Originally Posted by deetee

Liqour or no liqour , the person saved the face of the nation.



I second that, Govt. itself encourages liqour shops and chains;it can't do without the taxes on liqour items.In such a case even Govt is not worthy to claim it.

Well to take the argument to deeper levels : the present owner of Gandhiji's items might have been drinking liqour as well and consuming beef too.
in such a case it is better to retrieve those items a.s.a.p and let them rest in hands of liqour baron who alteast doesn't eat cows.(hey just kidding.)


of the items . But now that they are being marketed with Gandhi's name ,which raises respect from every corner of the country,it is upto this 100 odd crores population to see that the items tagged with that iconic name doesn't fall into bad hands and get insulted.
A valid question. Till now no one is bothered to enquire the whereabouts
Very glad that many Indians participated and the winner is Indian too.

What is this about face of the nation???
Suppose had these items had gone elsewhere, you seriously believe that the entire nation would be put to shame and then what about the face of the nation ???
Grow up buddy, then we should have been living in shame all the years these were in the posession of somebody else who is like you say a drinker and beef eater.
Womaniser, beef eater, drinker or pork eater are all personal choices, thank the seller and the buyer (with the above tags), because of whom you are proud today.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

The humour in this one liner is fantastic, just class, loved it!!!

let me give you some more. "Multi pronged strategy"
'Multi-pronged strategy to bring Gandhi's items'

sad part is this how it will be accepted and remembered forever for 90% of indians who do not understand what's going on.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by RX135

Gandhiji himself surely would not have liked it for 2 reasons:
1) Because he was opposed to liquor.
b) More importantly, because he firmly believed that only goal is not important, but means to reach to the goal are equally important.

If VJM stops making beer, then someone else will. Its the people who choose to get drunk. Even prohibition cannot stop the alcoholics.

Originally Posted by deetee

Liqour or no liqour , the person saved the face of the nation.

I believe half the room was full of Indian NRI biggies, so the bidding war was really between Indians.

1.8 mil would have given us a nice small race track in India, but this PR stunt will bring him a lot more mileage.

[five46]

Originally Posted by Mpower

I believe half the room was full of Indian NRI biggies, so the bidding war was really between Indians.

1.8 mil would have given us a nice small race track in India, but this PR stunt will bring him a lot more mileage.

Hard to guess why isn't this being noticed. His intent is still debatable though because of his past history showing his inclination towards such collectibles.

[luky_13]

Jai ho Mallaya ji ki, Jai ho !

[Samurai]

I am not sure why many people are mis-spelling his name. It is Mallya, not Mallaya. It is pronounced as Mal-Ya. Mal should be pronounced as in Mulberry.

[mmmjgm]

Originally Posted by diabloo

Govt 'procured Gandhi items' through Mallya

How did Gandhi's items land in US?

Last known about these items:[list][*] Eyeglasses were given as a gift to Col. Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III, who ruled a princely Indian state called Junagadh, when he asked Gandhi for inspiration at an ashram in 1930. "Gandhi said to him, these were the eyes that had given him vision to free India,"

How ironic, the father of the nation gave the Nawab of Junagadh his specs as an indicative of his vision of a unified India, and what does the Nawab do ?

On September 15, 1947, Nawab Mohammad Mahabat Khanji III of Junagadh, a princely state located on the south-western end of Gujarat and having no common border with Pakistan, chose to accede to Pakistan ignoring Mountbatten's views, arguing that Junagadh adjoined Pakistan by sea. The rulers of two states that were subject to the suzerainty of Junagadh — Mangrol and Babariawad — reacted by declaring their independence from Junagadh and acceding to India. In response, the nawab of Junagadh militarily occupied the two states. Rulers of the other neighbouring states reacted angrily, sending troops to the Junagadh frontier, and appealed to the Government of India for assistance. A group of Junagadhi people, led by Samaldas Gandhi, formed a government-in-exile, the Aarzi Hukumat ("temporary government"). - courtesy - Junagadh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia wikipedia.com.

Mallya has accomplished his Rajya Sabha/Lok Sabha ambitions by winning the items in the auction.

In one fell swoop he's got all that he needed for the upcoming elections
Master strategist is the least I can say. Doing a good deed and getting mileage from it.

Awesome strategy.

[Digital Vampire]

Good show Mallya. You are a role model for many business aspirants.

BUT

Vijay Mallya now tries to be the king of bad times

[harit]

Now I also feel like adding my 2 bit.

Mahatma gandhi was relevant in his times, he is/was considered as the father of the nation, and he still commands a lot of respect both in India and abroad. I personally think that today there is not too much relevance, but history being history you cannot ignore. So getting his relics back to India was the right thing to do.

But the whole excercise starting from the sale itself was a comedy. Mr. Otis broke down and cried when the stuff was sold! There is a picture. Then the government had no clue how to go about this, Ms Soni says one thing, Mr. Mallya another. A classic soap opera.

Today the only thing which is almost sure it that the items will be in Indian hands. The auction house has to wait till legal issues are clear. So either Mr. Mallya gets them, or the Indian Govt. as they had started court proceedings. Even though the items are now in custody, one of these two should get the stuff. So foreign collector of memorabilia should get the stuff.

But this matter has been done in a stupid fashion, typical Govt of India. We had several people bidding against each other to secure these items for India. And in the process drove up the price. Was it really patriotism to get these items or did one see an opportunity to get in Governments good books? But the price went up.

About the customs duties, there is a misconception that we blame the customs. They follow a rule book and policies. These are framed by ministries. The customs did not waive the duty when Amritraj won the Volvo cup, it was the sports ministry who paid. I think that even Kapil Dev tried to bring in a Merc "gifted" by a businessman. Just because customs may be lenient in regard to personal baggage, for such imports they have to follow the policies.

This is an opportunity for the ministries to sit down and frame a new policy for such imports. I do not see why Indians cannot buy heritage abroad and bring back to India to keep for themselves or for exhibiting. Even Maharaja cars amongs other stuff could come back this way. And this should be the way when the government is not able to buy back stuff which went out illegally. The Swan car which went out illegally was put up for auction, what did the government do? Nothing!!

I read that Mr. Tushar Gandhi was tense. But just visit Mani Bhavan. I have mentioned this story before. About 2 years ago I donated to Mani Bhavan an original old Rs 100/- note. They have a display where these notes of the 1960/70's are framed, Rs 1/-, Rs2/- Rs5/-, Rs10/- and Rs100/-. The 100 note is a xerox copy. I gave this with a letter, never received an ackn. I visited one year ago, it was not put, they were waiting for a carpenter. I again visited 3 weeks ago, they restored the whole building including carpentry work but they have still the xerox copy on display. Maybe Mr. Tushar could have a look here also.

A few years ago it had also come out that some items housed elsewhere were actually replaced! I personally feel that if Mr. Mallya gets the items, he should keep in his custody and not donate to the government. Remember, many things given free are not appreciated for their value.Lastly, why should government museums only display items which they own? Museums abroad proundly acknowledge the name of persons who have lent their items to a museum, this helps the collector for space and the museum to get display items. Is this done in any Museum in India? I am not aware, and who would trust them anyway?

This was a little more than 2 bits, but CHEERS to Gandhi relics, how ironic!!!