Rahul 1st LoP in 10 yrs to attend I-Day event; made to sit in 2nd last row

Senior Congress leader and LoP, Rahul Gandhi, sat with Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh in the second-last row

In a first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha attended the Independence Day event at Red Fort.

Senior Congress leader and LoP, Rahul Gandhi, attended the event on Thursday, wearing a white kurta-pyjama. He sat with Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh in the second-last row. Members of the Olympic-bronze-winning hockey team, including its captain Harmanpreet Singh and PR Sreejesh, were also snapped sitting with the former Congress chief.

It is worth mentioning that the post of the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha was vacant for 10 years because no party (other than the BJP) had numbers equalling a tenth of the strength of the House. However, the Congress party managed to win 99 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, up from the 52 it won in 2019.

Why was Rahul not given a chair in the first row?

As per protocol, the Leader of the Opposition is made to sit in the first row, along with Union ministers. However, Rahul Gandhi was placed in the second last row on Thursday (August 15).  

According to the Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for making the seating plans, Rahul Gandhi had to be shifted back as the front rows were allocated to the Olympic medal winners. Meanwhile, Union ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, and S Jaishankar were seated in the first row.

The ministry, however, added that the LoP is normally given a seat in the first few rows as per protocol. During the BJP regime under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then LoP Sonia Gandhi was always allocated a seat in the first row.

Rahul extends I-Day greetings

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, said, “Happy Independence Day to all countrymen. For us, freedom is not just a word – it is our biggest protective shield, woven into constitutional and democratic values. This is the power of expression, the ability to speak the truth and the hope to fulfil dreams.”