NEW DELHI: Congress today reacted sharply to the central government's decision to discontinue postal stamps issued in memory of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and asked "how low can the Modi government stoop".
"This depicts that hatred of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government in seeking personal vendetta which has reached its zenith," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
"What is most reprehensible is the fact as to how low can Modi government stoop in its sinister attempt to erase the memory of the two martyr Prime Ministers of the country," he said in a statement.
At the outset, he noted that RTI replies and news reports reflected the "distastefully brazen" manner in which the Modi government has decided to discontinue the postal stamps.
He said that the move has come on the heels of "blatantly partisan" move of diluting the essence of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
"This is yet again a black-hearted attempt on part of pernicious RSS-BJP combine led by the Prime Minister to sidestep and expunge a powerful legacy of sacrifice and selfless nation building that is alien to BJP-RSS on account of their non-participation in the freedom struggle and nation building", he said.
Besides, he said that the Modi government had earlier replaced the names of two awards – 'Indira Gandhi Raj Bhasha Purushkar' and 'Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Gian-Vigyan Pustak Lekhan Purshkar' -- by removing the names of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
He said that they were not leaders of the Congress Party alone, but leaders of the nation and its people. "They reshaped and remolded India into a super power of 21st Century, strived for India's unity and integrity and made supreme sacrifice," Surjewala added.