After Rahul's 'fifth row' seat last year, government says LoP to sit after ministers on Independence Day

NEW DELHI: Defence secretary RK Singh on Monday said leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been invited to the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort on August 15 and will be seated immediately after the Union Cabinet ministers.”Leader of opposition has been invited, and his seating would be as per the Table of Precedence, which is exactly after Cabinet ministers,” Singh told news agency ANI.The clarification comes after Congress criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rahul Gandhi’s seating arrangement during the Independence Day celebrations last year, alleging that he was seated in the “fifth row” and calling the move a display of “pettiness” and a disregard for democratic norms.Officials from the ministry of defence, which organises the event, said the seating was arranged “according to the Table of Precedence”.Congress had also accused the Centre of violating established protocol and undermining democratic decorum after Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were seated in the third row during the Republic Day celebrations earlier this year.

As per protocol, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha has a rank equivalent to that of a Cabinet minister.According to the Warrant of Precedence issued by the President’s Secretariat, seating arrangements at state and ceremonial occasions are decided based on constitutional rank and office, and not political affiliation.The Table of Precedence is a protocol list that applies to state and ceremonial occasions, including national events such as Republic Day celebrations, and has no application to the day-to-day functioning of the government.Under Article 7 of the Table of Precedence, the Leaders of opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are placed alongside Union Cabinet ministers, after the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India and former prime ministers.