Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) on Monday refused the controversy over excluding the first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru image from a poster celebrating the 75th Year of Independence with the ICHR Director saying that "the contribution of Nehru Ji cannot be underestimated on the occasion of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations".
Speaking to ANI, ICHR Director OM Jee Upadhyay said one of the posters of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' was released on the ICHR website due to which controversy has arisen.
"Out of this, at least more than 50 personalities are part of this poster. The contribution of Nehru ji cannot be underestimated or seen. This is a kind of attempt to create a premature controversy. 7 to 8 posters were supposed to be scrolled but now one poster is visible, soon other posters are ready and will be part of the website," said Upadhyay.
"There are many such personalities, all the streams which have contributed to the freedom struggle. One and more than one person from each stream will be part of the poster of ICHR," he further said.
ICHR Director said that many known heroes will also be a part of the ICHR poster. As far as Nehru ji is concerned, his name is mentioned 17 times in the NCERT book of Modern India. He has been photographed many times. It is not our intention to diminish his contribution. This is the first poster, maybe Nehru ji will be seen in the next poster soon.
"I can't go to the side of any political commentary but as a research organization of history, I am again telling you that there are many posters on the website of ICHR which are to be scrolled and it will be difficult to identify which is the first poster and which is the second because they will continue to scroll. The technical team could not put all the posters at the right time and a controversy arose after the very first poster which is not right," said ICHR Director.
ICHR official further toldthat many personalities are involved which includes Nehru ji and there is no intention to downplay the contribution of any individual in the freedom struggle.
ICHR, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, has been running a series of lectures and seminars on the theme of the Independence struggle under the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebration. As part of the lecture series, the council has invited various historians and academicians to speak on different topics related to India's freedom movement.
Opposition parties had targeted the government for the exclusion of the image of the country's first prime minister from the poster and suggested that it had been done deliberately.
( With inputs from ANI )
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