Cong panel on 75 years of Independence holds meeting

New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS) The committee set up by the Congress to commemorate 75 years of India's Independence met for the first time on Tuesday at the residence of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is the head of the panel.

Sources said that at the meeting, the leaders discussed the chain of events to be organised to mark the occasion.

The committee has members from the G-23 group, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Mukul Wasnik, who were all present in the meeting.

The Congress is miffed with the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru's picture from the digital poster released by the ICHR.

Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh have criticised the move, with the former saying: "It is not merely petty, but absolutely ahistorical to celebrate 'Azadi' by omitting the pre-eminent voice of Indian freedom movement, Jawaharlal Nehru. One more occasion for ICHR to disgrace itself. This is becoming a habit."

Ramesh said that "it's not surprising from this regime and its toadies masquerading as scholars, but atrocious nevertheless".

The other members of the committee are A.K. Antony, Meira Kumar, Ambika Soni, Pramod Tiwari, M. Ramchandran, K.R. Ramesh Kumar amd Pradyut Bordoloi. Mukul Wasnik has been named the Convenor.