Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi skip Red Fort Independence Day event

LoP and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge skipped the 80th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort on Saturday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his customary address to the nation. This is the second consecutive year that the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Leaders of Opposition have been absent from the ceremony.Their absence comes amid the lingering 2024 controversy over Rahul Gandhi’s seating arrangement, when he was placed in the second-last row.
Union Minister and BJP's Giriraj Singh termed their absence was "unfortunate". The relations between the ruling party and the Opposition deteriorated further during the Monsoon Session of Parliament that ended on Thursday. The session witnessed multiple lows in terms of productivity - with both the Opposition and the ruling party blaming the other for the low productivity in the session that began with students marching on Parliament on July 20, the first day of the session. Twelve bills were passed, with detailed dicussion taking place on only one - the anti-paper leak legislation. 
Meanwhile,  political row erupted on Saturday over the rendition of the full version of Vande Mataram at the Congress's Independence Day event, with the BJP accusing grand old party's former chief Sonia Gandhi of objecting to the national song and the opposition party rejecting the allegation. The BJP shared video footage from the Congress's event at Indira Bhawan and alleged that Sonia questioned party workers while Vande Mataram was being played.

आज स्वतंत्रता दिवस के दिन सामने आया यह दृश्य बेहद शर्मनाक है।

भारत के राष्ट्रीय गीत ‘वंदे मातरम्’ के दौरान सोनिया गांधी द्वारा आपत्ति जताना और कांग्रेस कार्यकर्ताओं से यह सवाल करना कि ‘वंदे मातरम्’ क्यों बजाया जा रहा है—कांग्रेस की मानसिकता को उजागर करता है।

क्या यही वह… pic.twitter.com/V4I0C4ESzH

— Gopal Krishna Agarwal (@gopalkagarwal) August 15, 2026

Congress, however, said there was no attempt to stop the full rendition and that Sonia was merely asking for a chair for party president Mallikarjun Kharge, who had been standing for some time. The Congress dismissed the BJP's claim and maintained that the full version of Vande Mataram was sung at its Independence Day programme. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh cited the party's historical association with the song and referred to a 1937 meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Calcutta, attended by several prominent leaders of the freedom movement. He stressed that the complete version was sung at Saturday's event and said the issue had already been debated extensively in Parliament.