London: The Christie's has decided to withdraw Mahatma Gandhi's last hand-written letter from auction 24 hours before this rare piece of Gandhi heritage was to go under the hammer.
The executors of Albin Schram have agreed to withdraw the Gandhi manuscript from Tuesday's auction in order that it may be acquired by the Indian Government.
"We are pleased to have facilitated the negotiations which have resulted in an important historical record returning to India," the International Director of Asian Art at Christie's, Dr Amin Jaffer, said.
Mahatma Gandhi had written the letter 19 days before his assassination in 1948.
Indian High Commission sources in London said they were in discussion with auctioneer Christie's to get the manuscript on behalf of the government.
"We are currently in discussion with the auction house on the modalities of acquiring the letter on behalf of the Government of India," PTI quoted the Indian High Commission sources as saying.
The manuscript, written for Gandhi's journal Harijan, was among the letters of famous personalities that were to go under the hammer on Tuesday. Christie's had even fixed a reserve price of £9,000 to £12,000 for the priceless document.
Several Gandhians had urged the government to initiate efforts to prevent the auction of the letter and get it back to the country. The government had also considered entering the bid.
"The executors of Albin Schram have withdrawn the letter with the consent of the owners of the collection of which the letter was a part," Mathew Paton, an official at Christie's Press Office, told CNN-IBN.
"The letter is now free to be acquired by the Indian Government. Christie's had acted as an agent to facilitate the negotiations between the executors and the Indian Government so that the letter may be withdrawn from the auction," he said.
"The letter is with a private party now and we will take part in any negotiations that may help India acquire the letter," Paton added.
Dhimant Bhadia, President of Gandhi Sena, Sabarmati, welcomed the news, but insisted that government should now try to acquire the same.
"The Government of India should try all ways and means to get this letter back to the country. It is an extremely rare manuscript written just 19 days before the Mahatma was assassinated," Bhadia said.
The External Affairs Ministry had exercised a lot pressure on the auction organisers and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations so that the letter was withdrawn from the auction.
The Prime Minister had also written to the Cultural Ministry, which in turn contacted all its foreign offices so that a list of all the Indian heritage lying in museums abroad could be drawn up and efforts could be made to bring them all back to India.
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