New Delhi: From a miniature Ram Temple priced at Rs 5.50 lakh and a statue of Ram Darbar priced at Rs 2.76 lakh to a silver peacock statue priced at Rs 3.30 lakh, gifts and mementoes received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past few years have been put on display as part of an ongoing auction at the National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA).
The paintings, sculptures, handicrafts, tribal artefacts and figurines, among other gifts, are available for people to purchase through the PM mementoes e-auction. More than 600 items are available in total, of which 100 are on display at the NGMA. The auction, which began on 16 September, will continue until 2 October.
The highest-priced items in the collection include the shoes of Paralympic bronze medallists Ajeet Singh and Simran Sharma and silver medallist Nishad Kumar; a signed cap from silver medallist Sharad Kumar; the badminton rackets of Paralympic bronze medallist Nithya Sre Sivan and shuttler Sukant Kadam; and a discus belonging to silver medallist Yogesh Khatuniya.
Among other notable gifts on display are models of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and the Dwarkadhish temple at Dwarka as well as statues of Hindu deities. There are also a wide variety of Pichwai paintings, Khadi shawls, silver filigree, gond art, and Madhubani art.
The Vishwakarma Diwas event on 16 September at the NGMA marked the start of the sixth instalment of the auction as well as Modi’s birthday.
The chief guest was Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, while the guest of honour was Arunish Chawla, secretary for the Ministry of Culture.
While addressing the media, Shekhawat said that the money received from the auction will, like previous editions, go towards the Clean Ganga Initiative—an initiative by the Government of India to clean the Ganga River.
“The money is used for a noble cause. This year too, there are 100 such mementoes that are displayed here, and, through a platform developed by NIC (National Informatics Centre), there are 602 items that were collected last year that have been exhibited here for auction,” he noted.
Shekhawat explained that the government has created a committee that inspects all the mementoes and decides their value and base prices. Moreover, he said that the total base price for this year’s mementoes is Rs 1.2 crore. He added that last year’s auction managed to collect an amount of Rs 11 crore.
Shekhawat also highlighted the upcoming events including the art workshops and competitions. He said that the themes for this year include the schemes created by PM Modi in the past ten years: Vishwakarma scheme, Ujjwala scheme, Swachh Bharat, Namami Gange, Khelo India, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Make in India, and Har Ghar Tiranga, among others.
“This is to increase creativity and critical thinking in the children,” he emphasised.
The 15-day Kala Karma event will pay tribute to the “powers of arts and crafts of the god Vishwakarma”, Shekhawat said.
Students and eminent artists from across India were invited to participate in painting workshops as well as art competitions. Artists created paintings based on the 100 episodes of Modi’s Mann ki Baat that are being exhibited at the NGMA. “Themes are water, environment, climate change and other social changes,” Shekhawat added.
The event also showcased sand art by acclaimed sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarshan Pattnaik.
The first auction was launched by Modi in January 2019 to contribute to the Namami Gange Programme. The previous five editions have garnered more than Rs 50 crore.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also Read: Shashi Tharoor has a grand love affair with words. He even enjoys Indianisms