PM Modi’s mementos to be auctioned, use funds used for Namami Gange

According to media reports, the mementos gifted to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be auctioned soon to raise funds for the visionary ‘Namami Gange’ project.

The mementos will be auctioned on January 27 and 28 at the National Gallery of Modern Art and will undergo an e-auction during the period 29^th to 31^st of January. Reports further stated that a total 1900 mementos, ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 30,000, will be auctioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxokzVxLtI8

For e-auctioning of the mementos, a website has already been hosted. The website has a detailed display of all the mementos of PM Modi. Any visitor can categorise them either through price range or through the various categories such as ‘gold’, ‘silver’, ‘brass’, ‘ceramic’, ‘glass’, ‘wood’ and ‘photo’. The online mementos descriptions also include some other details like its dimensions, weight and who gifted it to the Prime Minister. While an extra handling and shipping charge, ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 200 will be applicable on the product; these souvenirs are not taxable and kept out of Goods and Service Tax (GST) bracket.

Visit the website here: https://pmmementos.gov.in/pmmementos/#/

A notable fact is that the memento with the highest base price of Rs 30,000 is a 2.22 kg silver plate gifted to Modi Ji by former BJP MP C Narasimhan. The memento with the lowest base price of Rs 100 is an 800-gram idol of Hanuman Ji.

Another one that caught the eye was PM Narendra Modi portrait with his Mother, received from Arpil Shah, BJP party worker from ‘Dahod’. The portrait costs Rs 1000 and an additional handling charge of Rs 150. The e-auction would commence on January 29 at 10 am and would end at 5 pm on January 31.

The most commending fact is that the Prime Minister has declared that he would spend the amount received through the proceeds on the ‘Namami Gange’ project.

Earlier, in 2016, the famous, ‘Narendra Damodardas Modi’ monogrammed as pinstripes suit of PM Modi, was hammered for a record amount of Rs 4.31 crore. The amount that was received at that time was too invested in the cleaning of river Ganga. The suit was worn by PM Narendra Modi during his meeting with the then US President Barack Obama. A lot of controversies broke around the suit but finally, it was auctioned and was bought by Laljibhai Patel, a diamond baron and private airline owner of Gujarat. 

Interestingly, at that time too, PM Modi had not demanded a single penny from the auction and donated the whole for the national cause; unlike some other leaders like Mamata Banerjee, selling her paintings for crores of rupees to hide their “good deeds”.