New Delhi: The BJP held protests in multiple cities on Saturday after a shirtless protest by Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers at the India Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit in New Delhi.BJP workers in Mumbai showed black flags to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in the morning and traveled by road to Bhiwandi in neighboring Thane district to appear in court in the 2014 defamation case.A video of the incident showed them chanting “Rahul Gandhi hai hai”.Protests were also held in Jaipur, Jammu and Surat targeting the Congress party.
The BJP’s Yuva Morcha held a protest in New Delhi. A Yuva Morcha worker said: “The workers of the Indian Youth Congress carried out a very shameful incident yesterday… in order to…
Rahul Gandhi, AI means anti-India… This protest sends a very wrong signal to the world… Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party should apologize to the nation,” he was quoted as saying by ANI. “The people of the country will not forgive the Congress for this act… People from more than 80 countries came to the AI summit, and everyone wholeheartedly praised India’s efforts,” BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said.BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla added, “The Congress party has shown that it is characterless, emotionless, mindless…
The entire nation is raising black flags to them for this act… Even their alliance partners are raising red flags to them… Congress is anti-national.”
More IYC leaders arrested
Four Indian Youth Congress leaders – Krishna Hari, Kundan Yadav, Ajay Kumar and Narasimha Yadav – were arrested in connection with the protest and were produced at the Patiala House court, where tight security was deployed. Officials said the detainees are being identified and appropriate legal action is being taken.The alleged crimes carry a penalty of up to seven years. The accused’s lawyer said they belong to a political party and claimed that the FIR was politically motivated. He also pointed out that the defendants are educated and hold university degrees.Anti-national slogans were raised in the presence of international leaders and other prominent figures, police said. They added that detention is required to arrest the other accused who fled, investigate the involvement of the arrested leaders and recover their mobile phones to verify possible financing.
Police also said that three officers were injured during the incident.
What happened at the AI Summit?
On Friday, members of the Indian Youth Congress forced their way into the Bharat Mandapam and briefly raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The demonstrators entered the venue wearing or carrying white T-shirts with pictures of Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump, along with slogans such as “India-US trade deal” and “PM is at risk”, leading to heated exchanges with attendees.
About 10 protesters were arrested on Friday. The Indian Youth Congress defended the protest, calling it “the angry voice of millions of unemployed youth” targeting “vulnerable” Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The youth wing added that they are “not against the AI Summit” and “will not sit quietly anymore.”The “topless” nature of the protest sparked sharp reactions, with BJP leaders accusing the Congress and Rahul Gandhi of orchestrating the agitation. The BJP also termed the protest a “topless, mindless and shameful” brawl and alleged that it was planned at Rahul Gandhi’s residence.
