Indian Express-ICIJ Investigation: Govt welcomes Met offer to return antiques, works on next steps

The investigation was in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and (ICIJ) and Finance Uncovered.

Responding to The Indian Express report, Union Culture Minister Reddy said: “Bringing Our Gods Home is one such initiative that is rooted in preserving, promoting and propagating our heritage and is in accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Vikas bhi Virasat bhi.”

Rattle in form of Crouching Yaksha, terracotta, 1st century BCE, Bengal

He added that this initiative is being led by the PM and the numbers speak for themselves. “Of the total 244 invaluable antiquities of Indian origin brought back to India from abroad, 231 were brought back after 2014,” he remarked.

Said Union Culture Secretary Govind Mohan: “We have taken note of The Indian Express report and are thankful for its investigation with the ICIJ. We are in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian missions in the US for the return of these 15 artefacts from the Met Museum.”

The Ministry will soon sign a Cultural Property Agreement with the US, Mohan said, for “smooth repatriation” of all such antiquities found to be smuggled out of the country. India is also looking to sign such an agreement with the United Kingdom as well, he said.

Mohan added the Government has also proposed “restitution of cultural heritage” as part of the G20 culture track agenda during India’s presidency, and aims to reach an agreement.

Vasant Swarnkar, director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), said that ASI has taken note of the development and “due processes” will be followed to ensure their safe return.

BJP leader and former MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who heads the Indian Council for Cultural Relations under the aegis of the Ministry of External Affairs, said that the repatriations will “continue and enrich our culture.” He added a note of caution: “While we get our lost treasures back, we should ensure and enforce that it (the smuggling) doesn’t happen again.”

Parikara, brass inlaid with silver & copper, 1449 AD, Gujarat

Welcoming the Met’s decision, Odisha-based sculptor Adwaita Gadanayak, former director-general of the National Gallery of Modern Art, said a lot needed to be done given the number of pieces still abroad. “We should also work to get our pre-Independence treasures back,” he said.

Art curator Rajeev Sethi, founder-chairman of Asian Heritage Foundation, said that India’s art pieces abroad serve as the nation’s ambassadors. “Anything going out of the country through illicit means has to come back, and there are no two ways about it,” he said. And that the task now is to “conserve, preserve and display” these priceless items on their return. “Right now, our museums are filled to the brim, even the storage spaces are full,” he said.

Mumbai-based art historian and conservation architect Meera Dass said the return of the stolen goods from the “first world” is more a result of the strengthening voice of the “Third World” than a sudden change of heart of the keepers.

However, she said, this brings an added challenge. “We have fallen behind in our documentations, creation of inventories and proper showcases. There are huge gaps in our understanding of ourselves and our cultural heritage. I hope the repatriation brings about this change,” she said.

Industrialist Harsh Goenka, chairman of the RPG Group, called the development “the first step before Kohinoor comes back to India”. He said, “Unfortunately, organised plundering has been happening for long, especially by British colonists; hope they find all such objects and return them to India.”

Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman of the Ambuja Neotia Group, called it a “welcome step” adding it would be great to see these objects back in India and Indian museums.

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Kamadeva, the God of Love [Art of the Past, Inc. , New York, by 1993, sold to MMA]. Stone India (Jammu and Kashmir, ancient kingdom of Kashmir)/ Date: second half of the 8th century; “a rare survivor from early medieval Kashmir.”Tasneem Mehta, honorary director and managing trustee at Mumbai’s Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, said that the Met’s move is a victory of a kind but calls for hard follow-through work. “This moment can be used to reflect on major issues plaguing the art world – that of smuggling (or underground art) and of fakes. I think we need an independent regulatory body to handle such issues,” she said.