Modi’s monogrammed suit auction creates Guinness record – sold for 4.31 crores

The monogrammed suit worn by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during his meeting with American President Barack Obama in 2015, which resulted in huge controversy, entered Guinness Book of World Records as ‘the most expensive suit sold.

• This monogrammed suit was sold to the highest bidder, Laljibhai Patel, a diamond baron and private airline owner based in Surat, Gujarat for whooping Rs 4.31 crores.
• The proceeds from this auction have gone to the Namami Gange Fund, a project to clean the Ganga River.
• The pin stripped suit garnered considerable controversy and media attention for having the name ‘Narendra Modi’ stitched on it.

It is noted that the price of the suit that Prime Minister Modi wore during his interaction with President Obama at Hyderabad House on January 26, 2015 was Rs. 10 lakhs.

• It is also noted that he suit was reportedly gifted to Modi by businessman Ramesh Virani, an NRI, on the occasion of his son’s wedding. Modi had won the famous suit when he met United States President Barack Obama on Jan. 26, 2015.
• Apart from the suit, 800 other items that PM Modi had received were sold off at the event.
• The suit, which has stripes with the name ‘Narendra Damodardas Modi’ woven into it in glittering gold letters, has been placed inside a glass cabin at the reception of the Dharmananda Diamond Company for visitors to view it.

About Narendra Modi :

Narendra Damodardas Modi is the 14th and current Prime Minister of India, in office since 26 May 2014.

• Modi, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from Varanasi. He led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which gave the party a majority in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian parliament), for the first time since 1984 general elections.
• Since Modi’s taking office as Prime Minister, his administration has focused on reforming and modernising India’s infrastructure and government,reducing bureaucracy, encouraging increased foreign direct investment, improving national standards of health and sanitation and improving foreign relations.
• Earlier, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi’s economic policies have been praised,although his administration has been criticized for failing to significantly improve the human development in the state and for failing to prevent the 2002 Gujarat riots. A Hindu nationalist and member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Modi remains a controversial figure domestically and internationally.