NEW DELHI: With around 600 mementos gifted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to go up for auction starting on Tuesday, the items with the highest base price of Rs 8.26 lakh are memorabilia that hold stories that inspire. So, displayed prominently at the National Gallery of Modern Art are three sets of sports shoes and a signed cap belonging to Paralympic medallists from the Paris Games who have broken all barriers to achieve world honours.
There's also a replica of the Ram mandir in Ayodhya with a base price of Rs 5.5 lakh. The base price of all the 600-plus items together comes to around Rs 1.5 crore and the e-auction will go on till October 2. Around 100 mementos ranging from the gifts from the Paralympians to shawls and turbans to painting are on auction at NGMA. The lowest base price is around Rs 600 for a cotton angavastram, some caps and shawls and stoles.
Ahead of the auction that will be open on pmmementos.gov.in from Tuesday, culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat lauded the achievements of the Paralympic medal winners whose gifts are on display as sportsperson who are an inspiration to the entire country.
At NGMA on display are a pair of encased sports shoes gifted Ajeet Singh Yadav who was on the podium for the silver medal in the F46 javelin event at the Paris Paralympics. "His journey is inspiring. He overcame physical challenges to pursue his passion for sports," the auction website says in the description of the shoes. "His determination and success have made him a role model for many, inspiring individuals to strive for their goals, regardless of challenges." There's also a pair of running spike shoes gifted by Paralympic high jumper and silver winner Nishad Kumar and his journey too is an inspiration.
In the same base price category of Rs 8.3 lakh are the pair of running spike shoes gifted to the PM by Simran Sharma, who represented India in the 2024 summer Paralympics in Paris and won a bronze medal in athletics. The website says that the memorabilia is a "reminder of the hard work and dedication of the athlete".
There is also a signed white cap in the same base price category that was presented by Sharad Kumar who, among many achievements over the years, secured the silver medal in the high jump at Paris. The badminton racket used by bronze winner Nithya Sre Sivan and Sukant Kadam and the discus that got Yogesh Khatuniya the silver medal are also on auction at a base price of Rs 5.5 lakh.
Sharing that the PM started the culture of auctioning all mementos and gifts he gets and that he used to do the same when chief minister of Gujarat, Shekhawat highlighted that this was a way to "give back to the people" since the money raised through these auctions goes into cleaning river Ganga. So far Rs 54 crore have been raised in the five rounds of auction, the first of which was held in Jan 2019. All the money raised goes into the National Ganga Fund.
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