Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (Aug 15) skipped the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the second consecutive year.
The absence of the two senior Congress leaders from the 80th Independence Day celebrations triggered a political row, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticising the Congress over their decision.
Kharge, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and enjoys a rank equivalent to that of a Cabinet minister, was assigned a seat in the second or third row at the event. According to top party sources, the seating arrangement was inconvenient for Kharge as it would have required him to walk to the venue.
Kharge is expected to unfurl the Tricolour at the Congress headquarters later in the day. The Congress leadership had also skipped the Red Fort celebrations in 2025. The issue of seating arrangements had previously sparked controversy during the 2024 Independence Day celebrations.
Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and has Cabinet minister status, was seated in the second-last row, prompting objections from the Congress.
The Defence Ministry had then clarified that the seating arrangement was not targeted at Gandhi and that the front rows had been reserved for Olympians being felicitated at the event.
‘We were once in Fragile Five’: PM Modi
Meanwhile, addressing the nation from the Red Fort on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted India’s economic transformation and said the country had moved from being counted among the ‘Fragile Five’ economies to becoming the world’s fastest-growing major economy over the past 12 years.
“We were once counted among the ‘Fragile Five’. However, India has, within just 12 years, emerged as the world’s fastest-growing major economy,” Modi said in his 13th consecutive Independence Day address.