Narendra Modi’s ‘name-striped’ suit fetches Rs43.1million

Ahmedabad — Narendra Modi’s Rs1-million pinstripe monogrammed suit which had been up for grabs at an auction in Surat in south Gujarat was finally handed to Lalji Patel, chairman of Dharmanandan Diamonds on Friday.

The diamond baron’s Rs43.1 million offer was the highest bid on the third and final day of the auction for the two-piece navy-blue suit that the prime minister wore during US President Barack Obama’s India visit last month.

“We will keep the suit as a reminder of the noble cause we took part in”, said the jubilant winner at the auction where 825 other gifts were also on display for sale at the Science Gallery in the diamond city. A Rs50 million bid received after the 5pm deadline was rejected, Patel told journalists. 

Earlier in the day, the bidders, including billionaire builders, diamond traders and other businessmen, quoted offers ranging from Rs25 million to Rs28.9 million for the suit gifted to Modi by NRI businessman Ramesh Virani while inviting him for his son’s wedding on January 26 during the mid-January Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit in Gandhinagar.

On the second day of the auction on Thursday, the highest bid was from Surat-based diamond trader Mukesh Patel who offered Rs 14.8 million for the suit for which the bidding had started with Rs1.1 million on the first day.

Modi’s suit and 464 other items that he had received as gifts during his nine-month-long tenure had gone under the hammer for collecting funds for the prime minister’s ambitious ‘Clean Ganga Mission’.

Also on display at the auction are 361 gifts received by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel with the collections to be used for girls’ education in the state.

 A group of Congress workers in the diamond city had staged protests outside the auction venue to demand suspension of the auction where, the party said, idols of Hindu deities were also being sold.

Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia told Khaleej Times that when most parts of the state were under the swine flu threat and scores of people had succumbed to the deadly disease, Modi was “trying to gain undue publicity through the public auction”.

 mahesh@khaleejtimes.com