On the 78th Independence Day, Rahul Gandhi’s seating arrangement at the Red Fort sparked considerable discussion. The Leader of the Opposition was seen sitting in the second last row alongside Olympic medallists, which caught the attention of social media users. This year marked the first time in a decade that a Leader of the Opposition was present for the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort.
Rahul Gandhi, dressed in a white kurta-pyjama, was seated next to Gurjant Singh, a forward for India’s hockey team. The front rows were occupied by Olympic medallists like Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh. The Olympic-bronze-winning hockey team’s captain, Harmanpreet Singh, and PR Sreejesh were also seated ahead of Gandhi.
Typically, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who holds a rank equivalent to a Cabinet Minister, is assigned a front row seat. This year, however, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Union Ministers such as Nirmala Sitharaman, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Amit Shah, and S. Jaishankar, occupied the front row.
Sources revealed that Rahul Gandhi was seated in the fifth row as per the seating plan. He did not make any special requests. Interestingly, Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was also assigned a seat in the fifth row, but he did not attend the event.
The seating arrangement led to discussions on social media, prompting a response from the Ministry of Defence. The ministry, responsible for organising the Independence Day event, stated that the front rows were reserved for Olympic medal winners.
Consequently, Gandhi’s seat was shifted to accommodate them, although protocol typically allows for the Leader of the Opposition to sit in the front rows.
During the BJP government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi, then Leader of the Opposition, was consistently given a front row seat. The Leader of the Opposition position in the Lok Sabha has been vacant since 2014 because no party secured enough seats to claim it.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 99 seats, falling short of the required number for the official opposition post, while the NDA returned to power with a reduced majority.
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