The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party attacked the Congress and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday over a protest organized by the opposition party’s youth wing at the India Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit in New Delhi on Friday. She claimed that the act amounted to “treason”, alleging that Rahul’s “Lashkar sepoys” had tried to damage the country’s reputation.
A small group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers protested briefly on Friday inside the exhibition hall at Bharat Mandapam, where the AI summit was being held. They chanted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi before security personnel removed them from the place.
Read also | ‘Nepal-like protest and conspiracy’: Delhi Police tells court over shirtless Youth Congress protesters at Amnesty International summit
BJP attacks Congress over protest at Amnesty International summit
Targeting the Congress over the incident, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said: “What the Congress did is not just politics. It cannot be dismissed as mere negative politics; it amounts to treason.”
“Till now, Rahul Gandhi has been traveling abroad and making derogatory, insulting and condemning statements about India. Now Rahul’s Lashkar flag bearers and soldiers are trying to tarnish India’s image in front of foreign guests,” Trivedi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
He alleged that the protest at the summit site was a “shameful display” of the “banality and nakedness” of the Congress.
“The entire country is concerned and angry. The people of the country will never forgive the Congress for such reprehensible behavior,” he said.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also attacked the Congress for “anti-national” actions. He asked: When will you stop indulging in anti-national acts? He described it as “a very big crime against the nation.”
‘Nepal-like protest’ at AI summit: What Delhi Police told court
Delhi Police, seeking to arrest Indian Youth Congress workers arrested for shirtless protest, told the court on Saturday that the accused carried out a demonstration similar to the one seen in Nepal.
Four workers of the Indian Youth Congress were arrested in connection with their protest at the Amnesty International summit at Bharat Mandapam and were produced in the Patiala House court on Saturday morning. Those arrested were identified as Krishna Hari, Kundan Yadav, Ajay Kumar and Narasimha Yadav. They have now been sent to police custody for five days.
Scenes unfolded at the AI Impact Summit exhibition hall on Friday, as IYC workers walked around carrying T-shirts with slogans against the government and the India-US trade deal, only to be removed by security personnel.
The accused’s lawyer said they were associated with a political party, ANI reported, adding that they staged a protest at Bharat Mandapam while exercising their right to protest. The prosecutor said that the accused chanted anti-national slogans and were wearing T-shirts bearing messages against the prime minister.
What Congress said about the protest
Earlier, the Indian Youth Congress said in a statement that its workers were protesting against the “compromising prime minister who traded on the country’s identity at the AI summit.” The police later arrested the demonstrators.
An official publication from the Indian Youth Congress said: “Workers of the Indian Youth Congress raised their voices and protested against the compromised Prime Minister who traded the country’s identity at the Artificial Intelligence Summit.”
Congress leader Pawan Khera, in a video shared on X, said the International Youth Commission had “removed posters” and made the country notice “cracks in the walls”.
“The Indian Youth Congress, by peacefully protesting, reflected the anger among the youth at this AI summit. There has been a lot of noise and shouting since then. The ‘motivating’ media of the ‘compromising’ Prime Minister started saying that the protest was organized at the ‘wrong place’…” he said.
With input from agencies
