March 4 (Bloomberg) -- India has offered to buy the personal effects of Mahatma Gandhi and a telegram on which the independence leader wrote “All good causes create good wishes” to pull them from a planned New York auction, the owner said.

James Otis, a Los Angeles-based documentary filmmaker, said he received an e-mailed offer from India’s New York consulate to buy the seven items that are scheduled for sale by auction house Antiquorum tomorrow. The offer is too low to consider, said Otis, 45, declining to give specifics. The consulate didn’t answer queries seeking comment.

“We never want Gandhi’s words, and his images and his ideas to go away,” Otis said in an interview. He said selling the items to India would give the public access to them.

Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, used nonviolent civil disobedience to lead India to independence; he was shot and killed in 1948 by a Hindu extremist in New Delhi.

The Indian government came under pressure from patriots and Gandhi’s descendents to buy the articles and repatriate them. Tushar Gandhi, the leader’s great-grandson, called the planned auction reprehensible and tried to raise money to buy the collection, according to the Financial Times.

Sandals, Bowl

The seven items, scheduled to be sold as a lot, are Gandhi’s Zenith pocket watch, steel-rimmed spectacles, results of his blood test from Irwin Hospital in New Delhi, a pair of sandals and an eating bowl and plate. The online sale catalog had an estimated price of $20,000 to $30,000.

Otis declined to say how much he paid or what he expects for the items, which he accumulated over a decade; he said he would donate them to India in exchange for a government pledge to improve health care. Otis said he plans to donate most of the sale proceeds to advocates of nonviolence, chief among them Fellowship of Reconciliation.

India will also seek the assistance of the U.S. State Department to stall the auction of the items, Press Trust of India reported, citing Ambika Soni, minister for tourism and culture.

The Delhi High court yesterday issued an order seeking a temporary stay on the auction, PTI said. The injunction was granted on the grounds that the articles could not be sold because they belonged to India, PTI said.

To contact the writer on the story: Le-Min Lim in Hong Kong at lmlim@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 3, 2009 19:00 EST