Rs 1.4 cr and climbing: Diamond barons of Surat are going all out to bag Modi's suit

Even though the highest bid for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s famed pin-striped suit came from  a nursery school teacher, it’s the diamond merchants who are likely to bag the ‘prized’ suit which is already worth Rs 1.4 crore and is likely to fetch a higher price by the time a three-day auction in Surat concludes on Friday evening.

This morning, Gujarat-based Rajesh Maheshwari, who has established a Global Modi Fan Club, made the offer of Rs 1.25 crore, Rs 4 lakh more than yesterday’s highest bid which ended at Rs 1.21 crore. “We are a group of friends who have decided to contribute Rs 50,000 each” Rajesh Maheshwari told ANI. So basically, the Rs 1.25 crore amount  can be termed as a big fat crowd-sourced bid by a bunch of Modi fans.

“We are young people. Many of us are yet to get married. People spend Rs. 10 crore on a wedding. Imagine how proud a groom will be to wear the suit worn by India’s Prime Minister on a historic occasion. We can also charge Rs. 1,000 for a selfie with the suit and donate that money for children’s education,” Maheshwari was quoted as saying by NDTV .

And now a certain  Komalkant Sharma has bid Rs 1.41 crore for the suit.

However, according to a report in The Times of India, the diamond barons of Surat have convened a meeting today to decide on the highest bidding amount as they want to showcase the suit at the upcoming complex of the newly-formed Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB).

“This could be the best memorabilia for the SDB complex. We will make a special place to display the suit at the bourse,” SDB convenor Mathur Savani told TOI.

The first bid for Modi’s suit was of Rs 11 lakh, by a Surat-based chartered accountant, followed by a Rs 51 lakh bid from Surat’s Rajubhai Agarwal, a BJP leader. “I would have bid more if I could. It is most valuable for me,” he said. Suresh Agrawal, a businessman, doubled that offer, but the highest bid so far is by Maheshwari.

“My bid is for support of Modiji and Clean Ganga project. If I win, I intend to keep the suit as a memento. I will not wear the suit as it is a mark of respect to Modiji,” Juneja was quoted as saying by Mint.

Ramesh Virani, director of a diamond trading company, KARP Impex, has claimed that he had gifted the fabric for the suit to Modi during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in Gandhinagar in January. The gift, he claimed was for his son’s wedding ceremony, scheduled on January 26.

“I had personally gone to Gandhinagar during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to meet Narendrabhai and invite him for my son’s wedding. I told him that this is the first ceremony in our family after my father’s death two years ago. I wanted him to attend it like an elder brother and gifted the fabric to him,” agencies have quoted Virani as saying.

But the auction has opened a can of worms over the norms governing the conduct of ministers as clause 4.1 of the Code of Conduct for ministers issued by the Union Home Ministry states “the (the minister) or members of his family should not accept any gifts at all from any person, whom he may have official dealings: and (b) nor permit a member of his family to contract debts of a nature likely to embarrass or influence him in the discharge of his official duties.”

And even though Virani has disputed claims that the suit cost Rs 10 lakh - the figure quoted by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi while attacking Modi during the Delhi poll campaign, he has not disclosed the figure either, prompting some critics of Modi to wonder if the businessman indeed gifted the suit or someone else did.

According to the code, ministers can accept gifts from - other than close relatives -  foreign dignitaries. Moreover,  all gifts valued above Rs 5,000 have to be deposited with the Toshakhana. If a minister insists on keeping an expensive gift, “the recipient will have the option to purchase it from the Toshakhana by paying the difference between the value as assessed by the Toshakhana and Rs 5,000”, according to Clause 4.2 of the code.

A report in DNA says that PMO and MEA officials are tight-lipped as to whether the PM had sent his suit to Toshakhana for assessing its value, before putting it up for auction. Further, whether this gift will be treated as a gift from a foreign dignitary, the only permissible gift the PM can accrue.

Even the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and TMC took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over putting his pinstripe monogrammed bandhgala suit on the block and said the auction was a “damage control” exercise.

Opposing the auction of the controversial suit worn by Modi during US President Barack Obama’s visit to India last month, Congress demanded that the process of auctioning should immediately be stopped and it should be deposited with the ‘Toshakhana’.

“This is happening three weeks after the suit was worn by Modi… This is a damage control exercise. Damage control of his reputation,” said Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken.

AAP ridiculed Modi over the auction of his suit. “Narendra Modi and the BJP have mastered the art of marketing. The sale of the suit is nothing, but marketing itself,” said senior party leader Ashutosh. “This is DCPR, Damage Control Public Relations, this has nothing to do with Ganga cleaning,” TMC leader Derek O’Brien MP tweeted from Kolkata.

Maken said “Wearing of a suit of Rs 10 lakh was criticised not only in India, but globally… The people didn’t like the way the Prime Minister wore the suit while meeting the President of the US… So as a damage control exercise this was done by the Prime Minister.” Maken said.

The suit that created waves and kicked up a political storm was put up for auction along with 455 items that Modi had received as gifts during his nearly nine-month long tenure as prime minister to generate funds for his ‘Clean Ganga Mission’. Gujarat, however,  is familiar with Modi auctioning gifts. As the state’s chief minister, he would regularly get his gifts auctioned and donate the proceeds to various schemes.

With inputs from Agencies.