Referring to the omission of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's photo from the Indian Council of Historical Research's (ICHR) poster of the 75th Independence day celebrations, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday termed the autonomous body's explanation on the matter "ludicrous".
The senior Congress leader and former Union Minister in a tweet today said, "ICHR Member-Secretary's explanation for the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru from the first digital poster to celebrate 75 years of independence is ludicrous."
The ICHR however, termed the controversy unnecessary and said there was no motive behind its choice of freedom fighters for the poster.
Chidambaram who drew attention to the matter in a series of tweets also accused the ICHR of "bowing down to prejudice and hate".
"If he was celebrating the birth of the motor car, will he omit Henry Ford? If he was celebrating the birth of aviation, will he omit the Wright brothers?" questioned the Congress leader.
He further added, "If he was celebrating Indian science, will he omit C V Raman? After bowing down to prejudice and hate, it is best the Member-Secretary shuts his mouth."
The omission of Nehru's picture from the poster drew widespread criticism from Congress leaders who lambasted the ICHR for excluding the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru while celebrating the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' to commemorate the 75th year of India's Independence.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor was the first to draw attention towards the omission of Nehru's picture from the poster as he in a tweet shared a screenshot of the home page of ICHR's website that displayed eminent personalities including Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Netaji Subhash Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Bhagat Singh and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
In a tweet dated August 27, Tharoor said, "It is not merely petty but absolutely ahistorical to celebrate Azadi by omitting the pre-eminent voice of Indian freedom, Jawaharlal Nehru. One more occasion for ICHR to disgrace itself. This is becoming a habit!"
( With inputs from ANI )
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