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Gandhi’s letter to be auctioned

London: In a letter written 19 days before his death, Mahatama Gandhi had admonished those who were opposing Urdu, asking them not to copy “the bad manners of Pakistan with a vengeance”, while advocating that it should be jointly recognised with Devanagari as national scripts.

In the letter, a rare manuscript that will go under hammer at Christie’s in London on July 3, Gandhi said opposing Urdu would “put a wanton affront” on the Muslims, who “in the eyes of Hindus have become aliens in their own land”. Writing in his journal ‘Harijan’ on January 11, 1948, Gandhi, who appeared disturbed with the dwindling circulation of its Urdu edition, said in the letter that it was likely to be stopped. — PTI

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