NEW DELHI: Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday hit out at the ICHR for omitting the photograph of Jawaharlal Nehru from the first digital poster to celebrate the 75th year of India's Independence, and said the explanation given is ludicrous.
He accused the member secretary of the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) of bowing to hate and prejudice and asked him whether he would omit Henry Ford while celebrating the birth of the motor car or Wright brothers while celebrating the birth of aviation.
Ford was the first to invent the motor car and the Wright brothers were credited for building and flying the world's first aircraft.
"ICHR Member-Secretary's explanation for the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru from the first digital poster to celebrate 75 years of independence is ludicrous," he said on Twitter.
"After bowing down to prejudice and hate, it is best the Member-Secretary shuts his mouth," he also said.
"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? If he was celebrating Indian science, will he omit C V Raman," Chidambaram asked in a series of tweets.
The exclusion of Nehru's image from the poster of the 'Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations by the ICHR has triggered a controversy with opposition parties slamming the government for it and dubbing it as "petty and atrocious".