‘Insult to people of India’: Congress slams PM Modi, MoD after Rahul Gandhi is made to sit in ‘last rows’ during I-Day ceremony

“The Defence Ministry’s feeble explanation that it was out of ‘respect for Olympians’ doesn’t cut much ice. While Olympians deserve every bit of respect, I wonder how Cabinet Ministers like Amit Shah or Nirmala Sitharaman ji get front row seats ahead of them,” he said.

The MP also said that as per protocol, the LoPs of both Houses must also be seated in the front row. “But the seats for Rahul ji and INC President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge were in the fifth row. This was not only an insult to the post of LoP or Rahul ji; it was an insult to the people of India, whose voice Rahul ji represents in Parliament. It’s amazing how uncomfortable the truth can make some people—so much so that they’d rather rearrange the seating than face it,” he said in a post on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said Prime Minister Modi is a person with a “petty mindset” and he keeps giving proof of that himself.

“It is futile to expect big things from small-minded people. Narendra Modi certainly showed his frustration by making Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi sit in the fifth row during the Independence Day celebrations, but this does not make any difference to Rahul Gandhi and he will keep raising issues of the people as he has been doing,” she said in a statement.

Shrinate said the rank of the Leader of the Opposition is that of a cabinet minister and the ministers of the government were sitting in the first row.

“Not only Rahul Gandhi was made to sit in the fifth row but Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s designated place was also in the fifth row,” she said.

“A foolish statement has come from the defence ministry that ‘this was done as we wanted to honour Olympians’. They should be honoured and so should Vinesh Phogat, but did Amit Shah, J P Nadda, S Jaishankar and Nirmala Sitharaman, not want to honour them?” she said.