New Delhi: The Congress Monday accused the Modi authorities of violating established protocol after Leaders of the Opposition within the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, have been made to sit down within the third row of the VIP enclosure on the Republic Day Parade on Delhi’s Kartavya Path.

Calling it a deliberate slight, the get together mentioned the seating association departed from long-standing conference beneath which Leaders of the Opposition are accorded front-row seating alongside cupboard ministers and different constitutional dignitaries.

“Does such therapy of the Chief of the Opposition within the nation meet the requirements of any decorum, custom, and protocol? This solely reveals the frustration of a authorities stricken by an inferiority complicated,” Congress normal secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala wrote on X.

क्या देश के विपक्ष के नेता के साथ ऐसा व्यवहार किसी मर्यादा, परंपरा और प्रोटोकॉल के मापदंड पर खरा उतरता है ?

ये केवल हीन भावना से ग्रस्त सरकार की कुंठा दिखाता है ।

प्रजातंत्र में मतभेद रहेंगे मगर श्री @RahulGandhi के साथ किया जाने वाला ये व्यवहार अस्वीकार्य है। pic.twitter.com/b4mdU9BU7G

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 26, 2026

This isn’t the primary time a political row has erupted over the perceived slight to Rahul at official occasions. Throughout the 2024 Independence Day ceremony on the Pink Fort, the seat designated for Rahul was within the fifth row, alongside a gaggle of sportspersons who had participated within the Paris Olympics.

The Congress had then known as it an affront to democratic traditions and the individuals of India. In accordance with the Desk of Priority protocol record, the Leaders of Opposition within the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are to be seated at par with cupboard ministers, chief ministers, and even former prime ministers.

In 2018, too, the Congress had lashed out on the Modi authorities after Rahul, then serving as get together president, was allotted a sixth-row seat on the Republic Day celebrations.

On Monday, a number of Congress functionaries additionally posted pictures displaying BJP leaders L Ok Advani, Sushma Swaraj, and Arun Jaitley—who served as Leaders of the Opposition in the course of the Congress-led UPA years—occupying front-row seats throughout Republic Day Parades held then.

Sharing one such {photograph} on social media, Congress MP and Lok Sabha whip Manickam Tagore wrote, “This was in 2014 — take a look at the place L Ok Advani ji was seated then. Why this protocol mess-up now? Is it as a result of Modi and Shah wish to insult Kharge ji and Rahul ji? Leaders of the Opposition can’t be insulted like this, particularly on Republic Day.”

This was in 2014—take a look at the place LK Advani ji was seated then.
Why this protocol mess-up now?
Is it as a result of Modi and Shah wish to insult Kharge ji and Rahul ji?

Leaders of the Opposition can’t be insulted like this, particularly on Republic Day.#RepublicDay https://t.co/1zUMsILyDX pic.twitter.com/tPOlpaGKTG

— Manickam Tagore .B🇮🇳மாணிக்கம் தாகூர்.ப (@manickamtagore) January 26, 2026

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha additionally issued an announcement criticising the seating association, saying that anticipating the ruling dispensation to deal with its political opponents with grace was maybe an impossibility.

“Our nation has a Structure beneath which the Opposition was at all times handled with respect. Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi occupy a particular place in nationwide politics. By making them sit within the again, you might be insulting the nation and its constitutional establishments,” Tankha mentioned.

(Edited by Varnika Dhawan)

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