Delhi : Congress president Rahul Gandhi became the first opposition leader to participate in the Independence Day function at Red Fort after 10 years.
On the occasion of the 78th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoisted the Indian National Flag for the 11th time at the Red Fort in Delhi. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, attended the event.
The tradition is to give a seat in the front row to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who has the same status as a Cabinet Minister. But the fact that Rahul was not allotted a seat in the first row has caused controversy. Rahul Gandhi sat in front of the last row, along with Paris Olympic medal winning athletes Manu Bhakar and PR Sreejesh.
While Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Amit Shah and Jaishankar were seated in the front row, Rahul Gandhi, who holds the rank of Cabinet Minister, was allotted the second to last seat in the front row, sparking controversy.
For the past 10 years, the post of Leader of the Opposition remained vacant as the Bharatiya Janata Party had a single majority in Parliament and the opposition parties, including the Congress, did not get a large number of seats. But this time, the Congress party has got the recognition as the opposition party with a total of 99 seats.
During the parliamentary session, Rahul Gandhi was sitting on the Leader of the Opposition seat opposite Prime Minister Modi. That being the case, it has become a topic of conversation in the political circles as to why no honor was given to the Leader of the Opposition at the Independence Day function and the seat for him was not allocated properly.
Looking back to the past, it is noteworthy that during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP regime, Sonia Gandhi was given a front row seat at the Independence Day function.
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