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Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind’s postage stamps – Printed but could never be issued
Nearly four years before India got freedom from the British Empire, Subhas Chandra Bose formed the Provisional Government of free India – Arzi Hukumat e Azad Hind – in Singapore in October 1943. Eleven countries including Japan and Germany gave recognition to Bose’s government.
For the Azad Hind government, postage stamps were planned, which were printed at the Government Printing Bureau in Berlin, Germany. The stamps were commissioned by Bose himself during his stay in Berlin in early 1943.
A total of ten different stamps were produced. The stamp of lowest denomination was of two annas (one anna + one anna surcharge). It featured a sikh soldier with a German made MG 34 machine Gun.
The stamp of highest denomination was of Rs 3 (Rs 1 + Rs 2 surcharge). It featured three Indian soldiers, representing freedom fighters Sukdev, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru.
The other stamps featured – a ploughing farmer, an Indian woman at a spinning wheel, nurse with a wounded man, broken chain and daggers in front of a map of British India.
For the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – which was then under the Japanese occupation – there were three stamps but without surcharge – these were part of the 10 stamps of Azad Hind. The denominations for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were half, one and two-and-half annas, respectively.
One million copies of each stamp were printed and for the ones for Andaman and Nicobar Islands, half million copies of each stamp were printed.
The stamps were designed by the German-based graphic artist couple Werner and Maria von Aster-Heudtlass.
The Azad Hind stamps were printed but never issued stamps for the Provisional Government of Free India.
The stamps were never delivered and stayed in the State Printing Works until the end of World War II.
The India Posts – Government of India, Department of Post – has published the Azad-Hind stamps in a book entitled India's Freedom Struggle through India Postage Stamps.
The Netaji Birth Place Museum in Cuttack also houses the original stamps of Azad Hind for display in the visitor’s gallery.