‘Money no consideration for buying Mahatma Gandhi’s house’

October 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - US Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer today commemorated the 140th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by joining the inter-faith prayer meeting and memorial ceremony at Raj Ghat.

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said that Americans owe an enormous gratitude to the father of the Indian nation as the US has its "roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi and the non-violent social action movement" he led for India's independence. "His teachings and ideals, shared with Martin Luther King Jr.

October 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were amongst the many ministers and parliamentarians who paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at Parliament House on the occasion of their birth anniversaries Friday. Amongst the other dignitaries present on the occasion to pay floral tributes to the two leaders were Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, ex-MPs and family members of Lal Bahadur Shastri, said a release issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat here.

October 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday rechristened the government's flagship rural job scheme the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. "This is a small effort to pay homage to the Mahatma, who always believed in Gram Swaraj.

October 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - It has been 140 years since the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. And his autobiography continues to be a bestseller with annual sales of 200,000 copies even in these rapidly changing times.

September 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has said that if he could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, it would be Mahatma Gandhi, adding he is "a real hero of mine". Obama had gone to Wakefield High School in Arlington to give a speech welcoming students back to school, when he took a few questions from ninth-graders.

August 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Coal Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal has said that the government has decided to buy the house in Johannesburg, where Mahatma Gandhi had lived for over a year. Gandhiji lived in this house between 1908 and 1909 while practising as an advocate and fighting racial discrimination in South Africa.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Wednesday demanded an apology from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for making "derogratory" remarks that Mahatma was a "natakbaaz" (a fake). The remarks made by Mayawati about the Father of Nation are highly condemnable.

June 15th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Maywati has come under severe criticism from opposition leaders for having made derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi. While addressing a meeting of MPs and legislators of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) here Saturday, Mayawati called the Father of the Nation a "natakbaaz" (fake).

March 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - James Otis, the US based collector and auctioneer of Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings, today asserted that the purpose behind the auction was to remind the world about Gandhi's greatness. Addressing a news conference here, Otis, who sparked a row by putting up for auction Gandhi's belongings earlier this month, apologized for unintentionally hurting Indian sentiments and asserted that the purpose of the auction was to remind the people about his teachings.

March 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Mahatma Gandhi's personal time-keeper, a Zenith pocket watch, which was acquired by liquor baron Vijay Mallya at a controversial New York auction, was a traveller's symbol of 'universality, punctuality and style', the manufacturer said Monday in a statement. The 1910 sterling silver pocket watch, said the watch-maker Zenith-LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Group in a statement Monday, was born out of founder Georges Favre-Jacot's love for 'sharing and togetherness' that inspired travellers across cultures and sexes to 'travel together as groups'.

March 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Asserting that Vijay Mallya bought Mahatma Gandhi's belongings in an auction in New York in conjunction with the Indian government, Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said here Friday that it will be a while before the items are handed over to the tycoon. 'The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has successfully bought the personal items gifted by Mahatma Gandhi to a person during his lifetime.

March 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In an effort to stop Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings from going under the hammer at a New York auction, the Delhi High Court put an interim stay on it Tuesday. The order came after Ahmedabad-based Navjivan Trust approached the high court seeking a stay on the auction of five prized articles of Gandhi, including his iconic round glasses and sandals, by the US-based Antiquorum Auctioneers Thursday.

February 24th, 2009 TORONTO - Top Indian Canadian leader and former Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene to stop the auction of Mahatma Gandhi's artefacts in New York next month. Dosanjh, who in 2000 created history by becoming the first non-white premier of any Canadian province, told IANS Monday: 'I am writing a letter to Dr Singh to impress upon him the importance of acquiring these artefacts.' Gandhi's possessions - sandals, a pair of metal-rimmed glasses, a pocket watch, and a bowl and plate - are set for auction in New York early next month.

January 5th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The Congress Tuesday demanded the sacking of an Uttar Pradesh minister who allegedly said Mahatma Gandhi was a criminal. Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Awadh Pal Singh Yadav of the Mayawati-led government Monday said if the number of cases being lodged against somebody were the yardstick to term him a criminal, then Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were criminals too.