AHMEDABAD // Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s controversial pinstripe suit embroidered with his name was to be auctioned on Wednesday to raise money to clean the Ganges River.
Mr Modi was mocked for narcissism after wearing the bespoke wool suit with the words “Narendra Damodardas Modi” woven into it in tiny letters when he met president Barack Obama in Delhi last month. Photographs of the suit showing Modi’s name monogrammed in dull gold stripes went viral on social media.
Opposition leaders attacked Mr Modi for his extravagance in wearing a suit that was estimated to cost more than 1 million rupees (Dh58,770).
The money collected from auctioning the suit, along with more than 450 gifts the prime minister has received since taking office nine months ago, will go towards the clean-up of the Ganges, a pet project of Modi, who has described the pollution of the sacred river as a national shame.
They will be auctioned in his home state of Gujarat over the next three days starting Wednesday.
No base price had been set for the suit, said Mr Toravane, a Gujarat official.
It is not the first time Mr Modi has auctioned off gifts for charity – during his 12 years as chief minister of Gujarat, he auctioned off some 18,000 items, raising over US$3 million for girls’ education.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
