Politics
Obama Received Gifts Worth $3,000 During 2015 India Visit
President Obama greets Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India as he and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive at Air Force Station Palam in New Delhi, India, Jan. 25, 2015.
The gifts presented to the then U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle during their visit to attend Republic Day in 2015 included shawls, books and a tea box.
Former American President Barack Obama received gifts worth about $3,000 during his visit to India in 2015 as the chief guest at Republic Day celebrations, according to the U.S State Department. Obama was the first U.S. president to attend the event.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented Obama a telegram facsimile from the U.S. to India’s Constituent Assembly in 1946 and reproduction of the cover page of a report on India’s Constitutional debates, according to the State Department’s Protocol Office.
The gifts also included a framed photograph of African American singer Marian Anderson’s radio interview in India and a hand-carved wooden jali box with a small wooden latch and a photo of Marian Anderson’s radio interview in India on the lid, along with a CD set titled All India Radio Interview with Marian Anderson, November 18 1957, New Delhi.
The State Department estimates the value of the hand-carved black wooden jali box with the painting on the lid, a blue shahmina shawl, a red shahmina shawl, and beige and cream colored shahmina shawl at $1,231. The Rajghat Samadhi Committee gifted Obama a model spinning wheel with white thread looped around the wheel and a cloth scroll listing the Seven Social Sins as articulated by Mahatma Gandhi.
Obama also got Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments With Truth, and a bronze colored bust of Gandhi on a wood base. They were estimated to be worth about $929.
Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee gifted Obama books — Thoughts and Reflections, Winged Wonders of Rashtrapati Bhavan RB Series 2012-2014 and a photobook titled State Visit of His Excellency Barack H Obama, President of the United States of America and Michelle Obama to India on January 25 to 27 January 2015. Their price was estimated to be $825.
Michelle Obama was given a hand-embroidered Shahmina shawl, hand-carved wooden jali box, and assorted Indian tea with an estimated value of $662. As per the Office of Protocol, only the tea box was handled as per United States Secret Service policy, while the rest went to the National Archives.
Mukherjee gave the then First Lady a pashmina shawl with hand-embroidery and a specially commissioned tea set, including a pot, six cups, six saucers, a milk pitcher, and a sugar jar, with an estimated value of $900.
