Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday condemned the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) for excluding the first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru's image from a poster celebrating the country's 75th Independence Day and said that it is like 'making a movie poster without the hero'.
Tharoor also demanded that the poster must be withdrawn.
"It is like making a movie poster without the hero. Nehru must be there. This poster should be withdrawn. Stop attempting to rewrite history in this petty way," the Congress MP told ANI.
"Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India for 17 years and he laid the foundations for our democracy. How can Nehru Ji be omitted? To keep Madan Mohan Malaviya and omitting Nehru ji does not make sense. Omitting him from an ICHR poster is the best they can do."
He also objected to Maulana Azad from the posters.
"Leave the past alone, work for the future. You messed the present and do something to protest the future of this country," he added.
Taking to Twitter on 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!"
Meanwhile, ICHR Director OM Jee Upadhyay had 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".
"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.
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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