Gandhi payback in the same coin?

Mahatma Gandhi becoming the first person of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) origin to grace a coin in the UK will not be unexpected, given the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is of Indian origin.

It is piquant, though, that if the choice is approved, Gandhiji may jingle in pockets in Britain alongside his bête noire Sir Winston Churchill and assorted British monarchs. But as Gandhiji has long been a familiar face on currency in India, whether notes or coins, this possible British ‘honour’ will not be unique.

Indeed, most Indians probably do not even realise the irony of putting the face of the Mahatma, known for his frugality and disinterest in material wealth, on all denominations of Indian currency, from the magenta 2,000 and grey 500 notes — staples of the nefarious cash deals that refuse to die out in India — down to the common sparrow-brown 10.


In 1969, the Reserve Bank of India also issued 10, 1, 50 paise and 20 paise coins to commemorate his birth centenary.

Of course, there’s many a slip between coup and flip, to coin a phrase, as other contenders are being suggested for the slot, including the first British Asian MP Dadabhai Naoroji, pro-Empire pioneering lawyer Cornelia Sorabji and World War 2 heroine Noor Inayat Khan.

Presumably, the ‘winner’ will not be decided by the toss of a coin.