Pictures of several Muslim party leaders and freedom fighters, including Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, were missing from the Congress advertisement for the party’s 85th plenary.
The Congress apologised after receiving criticism from other parties for omitting the image of Maulana Azad and including the picture of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh apologised for the mistake and said that action would be taken.
“Today, an ad released by INC did not carry a photograph of Maulana Azad. It was an inexcusable slipup.
An advertisement issued by the party in several newspapers had images of top Congress leaders, from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and B R Ambedkar to Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao.
Party MP Manish Tewari took a serious view of the matter and said someone wants to airbrush their contribution from the annals of history.
“The @INCIndia has a pantheon of Muslim leaders who struggled against fissiparous tendencies, especially within their community, that led to the creation of Pakistan and dedicated themselves to the inclusive idea of India. “Someone wants to airbrush their contribution from the annals of history,” he said in a tweet.
However, Congress tweeted pictures from the plenary session, where photos of Maulana Azad were installed.
“Maulana Azad and all freedom fighters are at the core of the Congress party and our ideology. “A picture of our esteemed leader Maulana Azad on the Dias of the 85th Plenary Session says it all,” the party’s Secretary of Communications Vaibhav Walia said in a tweet accompanying the session photos.
AIMIM questioned the inclusion of a photo of Narasimha Rao in the advertisement and said, “The inclusion of PV Narasimha Rao says everything we need to know about the Congress party’s “secularism”.
