NDA Government must apologise for discontinuing Indira, Rajiv stamps, says Anand Sharma

Congress leader and former union minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday said that by discontinuing the featuring of late prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi on postage stamps, one cannot take away their sacrifices and contributions, and asked for an apology from the incumbent government.

"What is being done, I will not say it is unfortunate, but it is shameful, and if they have any sense, they should rephrase this and apologise. If they (Modi governmnet) continue on this path, it is not going to take away the respect and love which the people of India have for Indira ji and Rajiv ji and history recognizing with much affection their contributions and sacrifices" Sharma told ANI.

"The BJP government and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they have been, from day one, busy distorting history, rewriting history, but they cannot take away the supreme sacrifice of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. It is for the people to see that what kind of PM and government we have," he added.

Postage stamps introduced in 2008 featuring Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, have been discontinued. The government is planning to introduce stamps featuring Deendayal Upadhyaya, Jayaprakash Narayan, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Ram Manohar Lohia in the coming months. It was revealed by a RTI query.

The stamps featuring Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, were discontinued from July 2015 onwards. They were the only people who featured on Rs.5 stamps.