Row over Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge’s third-row seating at R-Day parade: What the rules say

In a democracy, differences will persist, but this treatment meted out to Rahul Gandhi is unacceptable, said Congress leader Randeep Surjewala

The Congress on Monday accused the Centre of flouting established protocol and undermining democratic decorum after leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, were seated in the third row during the Republic Day parade event.

Several Congress leaders shared the pictures of their top leaders seated in the back rows during the ceremony, raising questions over the "protocol mess-up".

Sharing the picture of Rahul Gandhi and Kharge seated in the third row, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala wrote on X, "Does such treatment of the leader of the opposition in the country meet the standards of any decorum, tradition, and protocol?"

"This only reveals the frustration of a government plagued by an inferiority complex.”

"In a democracy, differences will persist, but this treatment meted out to Shri Rahul Gandhi is unacceptable," Surjewala said in his post in Hindi.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore questioned the “protocol mess-up”, asking whether it was deliberately done to insult the Congress leaders.

Sharing a picture from 2014, he pointed to the seating of LK Advani, asking: “Look at where LK Advani ji was seated then. Why this protocol mess-up now? Is it because Modi and Shah want to insult Kharge ji and Rahul ji?”

“Leaders of the Opposition cannot be insulted like this, especially on Republic Day,” he said.

क्या देश के विपक्ष के नेता के साथ ऐसा व्यवहार किसी मर्यादा, परंपरा और प्रोटोकॉल के मापदंड पर खरा उतरता है ? ये केवल हीन भावना से ग्रस्त सरकार की कुंठा दिखाता है । प्रजातंत्र में मतभेद रहेंगे मगर श्री @RahulGandhi के साथ किया जाने वाला ये व्यवहार अस्वीकार्य है। pic.twitter.com/b4mdU9BU7G

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 26, 2026

What does the ‘protocol’ say?

The Table of Precedence, which governs protocol at national ceremonies like Republic Day, places the leaders of opposition in both houses of Parliament on par with union cabinet ministers.

According to the President’s Secretariat’s Warrant of Precedence, seating at state and ceremonial functions is determined by constitutional status rather than party affiliation and does not apply to everyday government work.

Under Article 7 of the Order of Precedence, the leaders of opposition are ranked after the Lok Sabha speaker, the Chief Justice of India and former Prime Ministers, and alongside union cabinet ministers.

BJP dismisses allegations

The BJP, meanwhile, has hit out at the Congress for "politicising" the event. "Rahul Gandhi is not worried about sitting in the third row; he is trying to deflect from being caught on his phone while the country was celebrating the Brahmos missiles at Kartavya Path," BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari posted on X.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, in a post on X, hit out at the Congress, accusing it of placing entitlement and family-centric politics above constitutional norms.

“Once again Congress puts entitlement & ego, parivar and position above people. They feel parivar tantra is above sanvidhan tantra. Seating is decided by a set format – Warrant or Table of Precedence. One can see even senior cabinet ministers around or even behind Rahul Gandhi but none of them made it an issue,” Poonawalla wrote.

“Rahul thinks he is the owner of India? By the way why does he bunk important programs. Where was he during VP oath? CJI oath? I-Day program?” he further wrote.