A close up of the suit shows the pinstripes with the Indian leader's name, Nanenrra Damodardas Modi
Indian tycoons jockeyed on Friday to demonstrate their allegiance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by bidding on a widely discussed item of clothing: the tailored suit that Mr. Mode wore last month to meet President Obama. The suit’s yellow pinstripes, upon closer examination, proved to be tiny lines of script spelling out Mr. Modi’s name.
After an afternoon of intense bidding, a diamond trader from Mr. Modi’s native state of Gujarat purchased the suit for 43.1 million rupees, or $693,234.
The proceeds of the auction, which included more than 450 gifts to Mr. Modi, are to benefit his campaign to clean the Ganges River. During more than a decade as Gujarat’s chief minister, Mr. Modi regularly auctioned off gifts he had received, using the proceeds for social programs. This time, however, the event also created a political embarrassment.
Political rivals of Mr. Modi seized on the auctioned pinstriped suit, and the suit’s reportedly exorbitant cost, as evidence that he was narcissistic and out of touch with the concerns of the poor, a charge made just before state elections in Delhi this month thatsaw his party losing badly.
A wealthy Gujarat businessman later said he had given the suit to Mr. Modi as a gift.
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