New Delhi : Congress president Rahul Gandhi watched the Republic Day parade today from the sixth row at Delhi’s Rajpath, seated closer to the public than to union ministers and senior BJP leaders. Sources in the Congress say it is the first time since independence that the party’s chief has not been assigned a seat in the front row.
The 47-year-old was seen in the sixth row with Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. His security men crowded next to him, appearing to block the view of scores of people sitting in the back. Amit Shah, the president of the ruling BJP, was seen in the front row with senior leader LK Advani.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala posted what he called a telling image of "petty politics" by the government. "The arrogant rulers deliberately seated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the fourth row, then sixth row, on Republic Day, discarding all convention. For us celebrating the Republic is above all," he tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi, who was Congress president for 19 years, was always seated in the front row.
The Congress, furious, has alleged breach of protocol and "deliberate humiliation" of Rahul Gandhi, who took over as party president last month, that too in front of world leaders.
