NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday skipped the 80th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort for the second consecutive year, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the national ceremony.
According to sources, the two senior Congress leaders stayed away from the event over concerns related to protocol, including seating arrangements which they reportedly felt were not in accordance with their constitutional and political positions.
Rahul Gandhi had been invited to this year’s Independence Day ceremony, with the Defence Ministry stating earlier that his seating would be decided in accordance with the official Table of Precedence.
Under the Warrant of Precedence issued by the President’s Secretariat, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha is accorded a rank equivalent to that of a Union Cabinet Minister.
The absence of Kharge and Gandhi comes against the backdrop of a continuing controversy over the Congress leader’s seating arrangement at the 2024 Independence Day celebrations.
In 2024, Rahul Gandhi, after assuming office as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was seated in the fifth row at the Red Fort. The Congress had criticised the arrangement, alleging that it amounted to disrespect to the office of the LoP.
The Defence Ministry had then maintained that the seating arrangement was made to accommodate Olympians attending the ceremony.
Both Rahul Gandhi and Kharge had also remained absent from the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort in 2025.
The Congress has repeatedly raised concerns over the seating and treatment of its senior leaders at national ceremonial events.
Earlier this year, the party also objected to the seating arrangements at the Republic Day celebrations, alleging that Gandhi and Kharge had been placed in the third row.
The Defence Ministry, however, maintained that seating arrangements during the Republic Day ceremonies in 2025 and 2026 were made in accordance with the prescribed Table of Precedence.
The Table of Precedence determines protocol and seating at state and ceremonial functions on the basis of constitutional position and official rank.
