Examiner News Desk | Srinagar:
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi skipped the official Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort on Saturday, triggering a fresh political controversy over the absence of two of the party’s most senior leaders from the country’s flagship national ceremony.
The two leaders stayed away from the ceremony for the second consecutive year, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the 80th Independence Day celebrations at the historic Red Fort and addressed the nation.
Reports citing Congress sources said the decision was linked to concerns over seating arrangements and ceremonial protocol. The issue is particularly significant because Rahul Gandhi, as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, holds a position recognised in the official table of precedence.
The government had earlier indicated that Gandhi would be seated according to his official position, immediately after Union Cabinet ministers. This followed criticism over his seating at the 2024 Independence Day ceremony, when he was placed in a relatively rear row.
Despite the revised arrangements announced ahead of this year’s ceremony, Gandhi and Kharge did not attend the Red Fort event.
The absence immediately became a political flashpoint, with BJP leaders questioning the decision of the Congress president and the Leader of Opposition to stay away from the national ceremony.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat sharply criticised the two leaders, questioning their regard for national programmes and occasions.
The controversy has also revived memories of last year’s dispute, when Rahul Gandhi’s seating arrangement at the Red Fort became a major political issue.
For the Congress, however, the absence comes amid an increasingly combative political atmosphere, with the party continuing to attack the government over issues including democratic institutions, constitutional values and the functioning of Parliament.
While staying away from the Red Fort ceremony, the Congress leadership marked Independence Day separately at the party’s headquarters.
Kharge used his Independence Day address to highlight the contribution of India’s freedom fighters and Congress leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, while taking an indirect political swipe at the current government.
Rahul Gandhi also marked the occasion separately and emphasised constitutional values and citizens’ rights.
The contrasting programmes have given the political opposition another opportunity to attack the government, while the BJP has seized on the Red Fort absence to question the Congress leadership’s approach to national occasions.
The controversy is no longer merely about seating arrangements. With Rahul Gandhi occupying the constitutional position of Leader of Opposition and Kharge serving as the principal opposition party’s president, their absence from the country’s central Independence Day ceremony carries considerable political symbolism.
The Congress has not publicly framed the absence as a rejection of Independence Day itself, and the party conducted its own flag-hoisting and commemorative programmes. However, the decision to stay away from the Red Fort ceremony for a second consecutive year has nevertheless provided the BJP with fresh political ammunition.
The episode underscores the widening confrontation between the government and the principal opposition party, where even ceremonial occasions have increasingly become arenas for political contestation.
