The base price of a silk print with the Prime Minister’s face is set as ₹2.50 lakh
Gifts given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past six months would go under the hammer in an e-auction starting September 14 and the proceeds would go towards the government’s Namame Gange project, Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said on Wednesday.
A total of 2,772 objects, including portraits of Mr. Modi, artworks, turbans, shawls, swords, figurines of cows and religious idols that have been put on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, will be available for at least a month in the e-auction, the minister said.
Mr. Patel added that the objects displayed at the NGMA would be changed every 15 days. The reserve price set for the objects starts at ₹200 and goes up to ₹2.50 lakh for a silk print with the Prime Minister’s face.
While most gifts that will be auctioned have been given to the Prime Minister by Indians, ranging from political leaders to religious groups to industry, there are a handful of objects gifted by countries in the neighbourhood, an NGMA official said.
This would be the second such e-auction of gifts given to Mr. Modi organised by the Culture Ministry, the last one being from January 27 to February 9.