| Hey Ram! By Shehla Raza Hasan
A
grandson’s plan to grant marketing rights to Mahatma
Gandhi’s name to a US company ignites a firestorm.
The
name Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi evokes images of the
spinning wheel, Khadi, the phase of non-violent, non-cooperation
in the Indian national movement, the Dandi March and
the teeming millions of the Indian subcontinent. So,
what does a hotshot transnational corporation, CMG Worldwide,
got to do with him?
Welcome to the 21st century world of celebrity endorsements
and brand ambassadors.
Soon after the Indianapolis-based CMG Worldwide received
a mandate to protect and market the image, words and
name of Mahatma Gandhi, from the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation,
howls of protested erupted.
This move by the managing trustee of the foundation,
none other than the Mahatma’s great grandson Tushar
Gandhi, seemed to have stirred a hornet’s nest and was
threatening to snowball into a nationwide debate, until
Tushar Gandhi withdrew the onetime provisional permission
he had given to the celebrity management firm.
Two factors contributed to the sense of outrage. Firstly,
that the name of a leader of India’s poor and needy
should be exploited for enriching a private firm.
Secondly, a more serious one — to use the image of perhaps
the most encompassing symbol of the Indian struggle,
one would have to take permission from a company based
in a ‘foreign’ country.
Tushar Gandhi however, has his own set of justifications.
He is quoted as saying that he took this step only to
protect the name of his great grandfather, so that it
is not used in an irreverent manner, such as branding
of meat or footwear or even lingerie.
Aware that he may have ruffled many feathers, in a column
in the Times of India entitled’‘Bapuji is not a commodity,
a formula or an apparatus’, Tushar Gandhi writes that
he cannot be accused of selling Bapuji, especially when
he did not hold any copyrights to his works.
Copyrights of his writings are held by Navjeevan Trust,
a charitable organisation which has been playing a leading
role in publishing Gandhi’s writings through low-priced
books, footage featuring the Mahatma is owned by the
Gandhi Film Foundation, Films Division and other international
networks. Photographs are copyrighted by the descendants
of Kanu Gandhi, Vithalbhai, Jhaveri Trust. Other copyrights
of the audio tapes are owned by Prasar Bharati.
Tushar plaintively points out : “The most famous brands
Bapuji is identified with are Swadeshi, Khadi and Gram
Udyog. How can anybody think of a ‘Made in USA’ brand
for Bapuji?”
What is interesting is that this idea had not struck
the junior Gandhi till CMG called him up recently and
made him aware of such a possibility. While this seems
a lucrative business opportunity for CMG worldwide,
one has still to find out whether such ‘irreverent’
items have actually been branded under the Mahatma’s
name until now. Some of the popular items which bear
the Mahatma brand name are long grained rice, jute bag,
vanaspati, safety matches, Raymond suitings, Apple Computers,
and even an American fitness club ,which feels the Mahatma
could do with some work on his triceps.
Tushar Gandhi says his experience with the ineffectiveness
of the Indian legal system to prosecute a foreign-based
company or individual made up his mind to allow CMG
to oversee the usage of Bapuji’s image commercially.
More than seven years after the disrespect shown to
the Mahatma by gay activist Ashok Row Kavi on the Nikki
Tonight show on Star Plus, Gandhi has not been able
to serve a summons to Nikki Bedi or Rupert Murdoch in
the defamation case he filed in 1995. Clearly, this
Gandhi does not believe in showing the other cheek.
Tushar sets the record straigh: A couple of months ago,
he received a phone call from CMG Worldwide which sought
permission for an advertising campaign to use the image
of Gandhi for an international credit card company.
They offered to pay $51,000. Gandhi gave provisional
permission with the caveat that he will give the final
permission only after he saw the final version of the
advertisement.
Owing to widespread disapproval, this permission has
been withdrawn. Tushar had also started exploring a
long-term arrangement with CMG Worldwide, all efforts
of which are undone. This would have raked in necessary
cash for a host of repair work connected with the Gandhi
memorabilia, starting with repair and restoration of
Kasturba’s house in Porbandar, Bapu’s house in Rajkot,
his first ashram in India in Kochrab, Ahmedabad, the
Aga Khan Palace in Pune to the memorial in Dandi. Had
Tushar gone ahead with the arrangement, legal action
by CMG Worldwide against any firm not seeking its permission
for using the Mahatma’s images commercially would not
have held good in any Indian court of law. Says legal
expert T C Dutt, advocate, Calcutta High Court: “Clearly
violation of the agreement between Tushar Gandhi and
CMG Worldwide is not an actionable offence under the
Indian law. Mahatma Gandhi has been declared as a national
asset under the National Emblems Act.
“Therefore although India and the U.S. are member countries
under the World Trade Organisation, and are supposed
to respect each others’ patents, any violation of the
above agreement cannot hold good. No American firm can
ever have any exclusive right on India’s national asset.
Nor can Tushar Gandhi barter away this right to the
highest payer, because he has no such right.”
Section 9A of The Emblems And Names (Prevention of Improper
Use Act) 1950, No XII of 1950 says : “The name or pictorial
representation of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj or the Prime Minister
of India or the words ‘Gandhi, ‘Nehru’ or ‘Shivaji,
except the pictorial use thereof on calendars where
only the names of the manufacturers and printers of
the calendars are given and the calendars are not used
for advertising goals.”
Dutt continues:”“The agreement therefore has no meaning.
The Mahatma’s name is already protected under the Indian
Law. If there is a violation, it is upto the Indian
authorities to look into the matter. The services of
a private firm are therefore not required.”
According to Dr Y P Anand director Gandhi Museum, the
Mahatma is the most revered name not only in India,
but also in all countries wherever his life and teachings
are valued. He belongs to the whole humankind. There
can be no occasion at all for reducing him to a brand
to be marketed. In any case, copyright of all of his
writings was given in his own lifetime to Navajivan
Trust. They have always been very liberal in allowing
others to use Gandhiji’s writings.
When asked whether it would hurt nationalist sentiments,
when anyone in the world wanted to use the name, image
and words of the Mahatma for commercial purposes, would
need to take the permission of an American company,
Anand said:”“ Yes, it would hurt were it so. Fortunately,
such is not the case.”
CMG secured its position in the 1970s as a top company
for representing the families and estates of deceased
celebrities. It represents over 200 celebrities including
Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Oscar Wide, Florence Griffith
Joyner and Malcolm X. This controversy reminds one of
the various patent disputes, with Indian authorities
and U.S. firms locking horns over patenting of substances
which are intrinsically Indian. India’s patent claims
over the ownership of ‘basmati’ rice are weak despite
the U.S. firm Rice Tec being forced to withdraw patent
claims.
While APEDA (Agricultural And Processed Food Products
Export Development Authority) has succeeded in forcing
Rice Tec to withdraw four out of 20 claims, the remaining
16 which detail breeding techniques, characteristics,
properties for cultivation lie outside the Indian subcontinent.
However, Rice Tec’s claim on basmati rice is said to
be the most audacious instance of’“bio-piracy” by a
western transnational corporation. Nevertheless the
legal battle goes on. India had succeed in the turmeric
patent case, because it had documented evidence from
ancient Indian texts showing that turmeric’s medicinal
use was well-known in the country for centuries. Another
disputed item is “neem” which is also a victim of bio-piracy.
Leading Indian anti-biopiracy campaigner, Vandana Shiva,
who successfully challenged patents on neem granted
to WR Grace by the Munich-based European Patent Office,
accuses the government of “lethargy, indifference and
collusion” with Western interests. According to Shiva,
the Indian government is actually helping bio-pirates.
She has challenged in India’s Supreme Court a biodiversity
law enacted by Parliament in 1999, which allows TNCs
exclusive marketing rights (EMRs) for traditional medicines
that are used by the bulk of the one billion Indians.
In contesting the neem patents, Shiva too cited ancient
texts to show that neem products have been used in India
for centuries for medicinal and agricultural purposes.
Earlier, the Indian government had lost its challenge
to the neem patents in the United States.
All these instances sum up the notion that Indians are
fast waking up to the fact that it is time to protect
the national treasures before they are claimed by others
and are lost to this country forever. The Gandhi controversy
is a foreboding of the issues that are on the anvil
A note of caution for any multinational firm thinks
of taking up a similar exercise for the names of Jawaharlal
Nehru and Chhatrapati Shivaji. They need to look up
(The Emblems And Names (Prevention of Improper Use Act)
1950, No XII of 1950. Aakhir Dil Hai Hindustani, hai
na?
What might the Mahatma think of all this controversy:
“My writings,” he once wrote, “should be cremated with
my body. What I have done will endure, not what I have
said and written.” If only the living could leave him
in peace.
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End Of Article.....
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