Addressing an election meeting in West Bengal, BJP's Prime Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi commented on the paintings of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the price some of her paintings command.
Questioning the prices of Mamata's paintings, Modi had said, "Earlier, your paintings used to sell for eight, ten lakh rupees. How, then, did your painting sell for Rs. 1.8 crores? Who bought it? I respect you personally but this has tarnished your image."
After a brief pause he said, "I respect the arts, but who was the person who gave that 1 crore, 80 lakhs?"
Modi was hinting that these paintings are highly overpriced and command so much price not because of their artistic qualities, because of other 'political' reasons.
His statement has hit a raw nerve. An infuriated Mamata Banerjee hit back at Modi for ridiculing her love for the art.
According to a report in The Indian Express in the last two years Trinamool has earned Rs 6,46,90,000 through sale of Mamata's paintings. A balance sheet of the party submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) shows her paintings yielded Rs 2,53,00,000 in financial year 2012-2013 and Rs 3,93,90,000 in 2011-2012. But in 2010-2011 when her party was not in power, there was no sale of Mamata's paintings.
The state leadership of the BJP as well as the Congress allege that chit fund companies were among buyers of the paintings. Her arch rival the CPM calls it "painting black money into white."
But, Mamata is not the only politician painter whose works command a big price.
Two years ago, Elizabeth Antony, the wife of Defence minister AK Antony, hogged the limelight after the Airport Authority of India (AAI) purchased eight paintings of her for an undisclosed amount for displaying them at select airports.
According to a report, two of her creations have already found place at the new international terminal of the Thiruvananthapuram airport and it is learnt that the AAI paid Rs 28 crore for the twin artworks. This puts Elizabeth in the elite league of the late Tyeb Mehta, SH Raza, Vasudev Gaintonde and others.
Elizabeth who refused to divulge the details said the amounts raised from the sale of her paintings are used for helpless cancer patients' welfare and her NGO Navoothan Charitable Fund, which plays a lead role in it.
Like Mamata, she too has no formal training in painting. For them it is a hobby. A hobby, worth pursuing when it comes to the huge money involved.
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