The government may officially be on an austerity drive, but the country woke up to a series of newspaper ads by several governments departments  on Indira Gandhi's birth anniversary. Some of those cost over Rs 1 crore in a national daily.

There were full-page ads in papers in every metro and in several smaller stories all wishing Indira Gandhi a Happy Birthday.

The ads were placed by various government departments for the prime minister who was assassinated in 1984. The Department of Audio Visual Publicity wouldn't reveal how much was spent on these ads. But it's not tough to do the math.

A full-page ad in a leading national daily costs 1.28 crores. The government gets a discount, but the number of ads placed suggest that the final spending ran into crores for this trademark Congress sycophancy.

The government says there's no reason to blush. It's just helping out in a recession.

''Newspapers and TV persons have been asking for ads. And why not for an iconic figure like Indira Gandhi!'' reasons Ambika Soni, Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

Taxpayers may have a very different perspective.