Congress MP P Chidambaram on Sunday dismissed the Indian Council for Historical Research’s reasoning for not including former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s photo on its poster for “Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” as ludicrous.

“Azaadi ka Amrut Mahotsav” is an initiative launched by the government to commemorate 75 years of India’s independence.

As part of the initiative, the Indian Council for Historical Research released a poster with the images of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, BR Ambedkar, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Madan Mohan Malviya and VD Savarkar.

On Saturday, several social media users, including Congress leaders, criticised the government for omitting Nehru, India’s first prime minister, from the poster.

Indian Council for Historical Research Member Secretary, K Ratnam, however, said that the controversy was unnecessary, according to The Indian Express. Ratnam said that there was no ulterior motive behind the selection of freedom fighters for the poster and that the council was not into “pitting one icon against another”.

“We couldn’t have accommodated everyone,” Ratnam said. “We have Bhagat Singh on the poster... Does that mean we do not acknowledge what Chandra Shekhar Azad did for the freedom struggle?Similarly, how can we deny Jawaharlal Nehru’s contributions? This is an unnecessary controversy.”

He said that the council would feature “as many freedom fighters” in other posters.

Om Jee Upadhyay, the director of the Indian Council of Historical Research, also backed Ratnam.

“We are not diminishing anybody’s role,” he told Times Now. “We are making several pages like this. People whose contribution to the freedom struggle was downplayed should also be highlighted. Savarkar was in prison for 10 years and but he is not remembered.”

Chidambaram, however, criticised Ratnam for his explanation on the matter.

“After bowing down to prejudice and hate, it is the best that the member secretary shuts his mouth,” he said in a tweet on Sunday. “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?”

Earlier, social media users had criticised the Indian Council for Historical Research for not including Nehru in the poster. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called the act petty and ahistorical.

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that it reflected upon the body’s “insecurity”.