Owner to meet Indian officials on Gandhi's memorabilia

The US-based owner of Mahatma Gandhi memorabilia, up for auction here on Thursday, has said that he will meet with Indian government officials today to try to settle the issue.

James Otis told CNN that he hopes the Indian government is "willing to offer something very generous to India's poorest in exchange for the donation of the items to the government."

"I would hope that the Indian government would offer something as great as Gandhi's cause," Otis said in Los Angeles. He said he will travel to New York to meet with Indian officials.

"I will ask the Indian government if they would do a great gesture to the poorest of India, like those that we've all seen in Slumdog Millionaire," Otis said, referring to the Academy Award-winning film.

If the Indian government does not 'step up' and make an offer, Otis said he plans to auction the items - which include Gandhi's famous metal-rimmed glasses - tomorrow and donate the proceeds "to promote Gandhi's great words and actions."

Otis had said that he would consider donating the items free if the government announced plans to spend five per cent of GDP on the poor and some other such major scheme.

"The majority of the money that is received from this auction will be going to non-violence causes, causes that will promote the discussion and the debate about non-violence," he told CNN. "That is where I believe Gandhi would have hoped this money would have gone."

Otis said he did not fully understand the outrage over the planned auction because Gandhi was not interested in material possessions, many of his belongings are already in India's museums, and Gandhi himself had often auctioned off gifts that he had received to raise money for the poor.

"I understand the anger that people want his treasures, his national treasures," Otis said. "I hope they understand that if the Indian government does step up and do it as a grand gesture... to help poorest of poor, I think they would understand and feel that Gandhi's work is being achieved through these possessions being auctioned off."