Congress Bristles at 'Seat-sharing Plan' during PM Modi's I-Day Speech as Rahul Pushed to Fifth Row

Where you sit matters in politics. And relations can be strained based on the seating plan. The Congress has now objected to the seat given to Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi during the Independence Day event at Red Fort on Thursday. He was seen sitting at the back in the fifth row with Olympians listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech.

As per protocol, the LoP, with the position considered equivalent to a cabinet rank, sits in the front row along with senior union ministers.

Congress sources pointed out that union ministers like Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, JP Nadda, and S Jaishankar sat at the front. Defence ministry sources said the reason Rahul Gandhi was moved back was to accommodate the Olympians who were special invitees. The Congress has rejected this explanation. “The defence ministry has issued a silly clarification, stating that they wanted to respect the Olympians. Absolutely, we must. By that logic, don’t Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda want to respect the Olympians?” said a party source.

The Congress says that these things don’t matter to Rahul Gandhi but that this behaviour shows the government is uncomfortable with the LoP’s questions and wants to humiliate him. As per the Congress, the BJP has had scant regard for its president Mallikarjun Kharge too who was also given a seat in the fifth row but couldn’t attend as he had to be at the party office like last year.

Rahul Gandhi has been claiming that he is not allowed to speak in Parliament, the microphone is switched off, and cameras inside the House don’t focus on him.

While the Congress doesn’t want to play up the seating issue as it feels that this would once again make Rahul Gandhi seem entitled and that he is grudging sitting with the Olympians, as the LoP ups the ante against the Prime Minister, this matter is not going to die down anytime soon.