An assortment of postage stamps with images of Mahatma Gandhi
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Mahatma Gandhi’s 152nd birth anniversary
We are celebrating Gandhi Jayanti to mark the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. It is observed across states and territories in India and is one of the officially declared national holidays. Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat. Father of the Nation, as he was called, led India’s freedom movement. His principles of truth, non-violence, Hindu-Muslim unity, and equality by battling caste discrimination hold resonance in contemporary India.
Mahatma Gandhi was honoured by over 100 countries that issued postage stamps in his name. India, of course, led the world in releasing postage stamps on the Mahatma. The first postage stamp on Mahatma Gandhi was planned to be released on October 2, 1947, according to the Gandhi World Foundation. But the assassination of Gandhi on January 30, 1948, delayed the release. Thus, the first postage stamp could be released only on August 15, 1948, a year after India attained Independence.
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