The Congress party responded aggressively after it faced criticism over its youth wing’s shirtless protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the AI summit venue in New Delhi on Friday.
“Isn’t the country’s image being tarnished by bringing in a Chinese robot and claiming that it is ours?” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinath posted on X. She was referring to the presentation held by Galgotias University, Greater Noida, at the Artificial Intelligence Summit Expo.
“Won’t the country’s image be tarnished by bowing down and surrendering to America to conclude a trade deal?” She also wrote in reference to the agreement recently announced by US President Donald Trump. She claimed that the media “blocked” Congress’s concerns.
She accused Prime Minister Modi of “sacrificing farmers’ rights” and “handing over all our data to America,” along with “stopping buying oil from Russia under American pressure.” She also emphasized Trump’s repeated claims that he got India and Pakistan to agree to a ceasefire in May last year.
“So please shut up and sit down,” she wrote.
However, while the BJP went for a tough stance against the Congress, the leading party’s allies in the opposition took a measured approach.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray said “no one should do something like this” and that “the BJP also staged a protest during the Commonwealth Games (2010)”.
“It is a professional summit and it should be allowed to remain professional,” he said, stressing that the BJP had politically transformed the event by “paste its leader’s face everywhere”.
From the BJP, among other leaders, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta also criticized the protest at Bharat Mandapam. She said in a post on X that the Indian AI Impact Summit is shaping the future direction, and that the “spectacle” created by Congress at the event is “absolutely shameful.”
A group of Indian Youth Congress workers staged a dramatic shirtless protest by walking around carrying T-shirts printed with slogans against the government and the Indo-US trade deal, before being led away by security personnel.
Some eyewitnesses also said that the protest gave a bad image to the country, ANI reported.
“As a visitor, I feel this is not the right place to organize such a protest. It gives a bad image of the country. This is not a place for a protest, as India is holding an international event and talking about artificial intelligence,” Sumit Patni, an eyewitness, told ANI.
Former BJP MP Smriti Irani also criticized the Congress. “It takes rare political bankruptcy to turn a world summit into a stage to embarrass a nation before the world,” she said.
Taking aim at Rahul Gandhi, she added: “The ‘scion’ of the grand old party seems to believe that spectacle can replace substance. When your ideas have been out of stock for more than a decade, theatrics become the ultimate sell-out.”
Delhi Police arrested Indian Youth Congress national coordinator Narsimha during the protest at Bharat Mandapam.
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 AL summit.” Additional Commissioner of Police Devesh Mahla said the incident occurred at around 12:30 pm and that the protesters had registered to participate in the summit online.
