THE MUCH hyped postal stamp of popular Bhojpuri singer and actor Manoj Tiwari, which was reportedly released by the government of Netherlands was not an official stamp, but a personalised one.

This fact was brought to light by vernacular web portal bhojpuria.com after confirming it from the Royal Netherlands Embassy in New Delhi.

Director of the website Sudhir Kumar said today (MAY 29) that he had received an e-mail from an Indian fan based in Netherlands, on May 22, after reading the news of the ’honouring’ of the Bhojpuri star by the Dutch government in the community portal.

The mail stated that the news, which was carried by almost all national dailies in India that the Dutch government had released a postal stamp to honour the Indian actor, was ’false’.

Kumar immediately contacted the official of Netherlands Embassy, who confirmed that the Dutch government had not issued any such stamp.

On enquiring into the matter, Kumar came to know that the Dutch government officials did not issue any stamp, rather it was done by TNT Post, a privately-run agency in that country. This year, they have issued stamps under 29 themes, including green stamps and kids stamps. But, Manoj Tiwari stamps were not included in the programme.

In Netherlands, people interested in getting stamps issued against their names have to send requisition forms and if they managed to fulfill the criteria, a personalised stamp gets issued by the TNP Post, Kumar informed and added that Tiwari did the same ’trick’ to have a 44-cent worth stamp issued in his name and went public with his achievement.

Incidentally, the Bihar government had honoured the actor recently in the Raj Bhawan, at a ceremony in Patna, for the his ’achievement’.

However, sources said the actor would address the media soon and clarify his stand on the controversial issue.