Transformation of ‘great soul’ into brand ambassador causes upset, writes RAHUL BEDIin New Delhi

A FIERCE public row has erupted across India over the sale of limited edition Montblanc fountain pens costing over $25,000 (€17,072) engraved with the image of Mahatma Gandhi, the ascetic Hindu leader who led India’s freedom struggle, voluntarily embracing minimalism and simplicity in all forms.

The controversy follows Germany’s iconic pen-maker unveiling the commemorative fountain pens plated with white gold and rhodium in Mumbai last week, to mark Gandhi’s 140th birth anniversary on October 2nd.

The decision to turn the Mahatma or “great soul”, who shunned imports, spun his own coarse cloth and took simple living and eating to new extremes, into a “brand ambassador” for a multinational luxury product manufacturer has gravely upset many Indians.

“Mahatma Gandhi advocated a simple lifestyle,” declared an incensed Dijo Kappen of the centre for consumer education in southern Kerala state, who has filed a lawsuit in the province challenging Montblanc’s right to market the pens.

It was a mockery of the great man and an insult to the nation to use him as a poster-boy, he fulminated.

Montblanc’s endeavour has also generated a heated debate on numerous TV channels in which Gandhi’s descendants, including his great-grandson Tushar Gandhi endorsed the product.

His charitable foundation has already received a donation of some $145,000 from Montblanc and will receive between $200 and $1,000 for each pen sold.

But others on NDTV at the weekend railed against Montblanc, asking why multi-million dollar conglomerates were fascinated with the image of a man who Winston Churchill once referred to as a “half-naked faqir” or religious mendicant.

The limited edition pen is intended to honour Gandhi, the German pen-maker said.

“I wouldn’t have thought that people would have reacted negatively,” Montblanc’s Lutz Bethge said, adding that though questions were asked whether it made sense to combine Montblanc and Mahatma Gandhi, most people were delighted over the tribute being paid to him by the pen-maker.

Just 241 of the bespoke handmade pens will be sold, in remembrance of the number of miles Gandhi walked on his famous 1930 “salt march” to protest against taxes levied by the British administration on salt.

The dramatic march dealt an early blow to the colonial administration, leading to its eventual departure 17 years later.

The handmade pens are adorned with Gandhi’s signature, a saffron-coloured opal and an eight-metre long golden thread that can be wound around the pen to invoke the spindle Gandhi used to weave plain cotton cloth each day.

A commemorative booklet of inspiring Gandhi quotes also accompanies each pen. Montblanc is also selling cheaper limited-edition pens with Gandhi’s image, costing $3,000-$4000.