New Delhi, Feb 22, 2026
A poster at Congress headquarters in Uttar Pradesh backed its youth wing’s “shirtless” protest during the recent India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
The poster read, “We are proud of you all,” and featured a shirtless photograph of Youth Congress members protesting at the summit venue in Delhi.
The protest, which took place during the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, drew sharp reactions from several BJP leaders, who accused the Congress of attempting to embarrass the country during a major international event.
On the Youth Congress protest at the AI Summit, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said, “This should absolutely not happen. Congress has become issue-less. The way Congress is losing the trust of people across the country, continuously losing elections, they are doing all this out of frustration…”
Bihar Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha also criticised the protest, saying, “…This is not Gandhi ji’s Congress anymore. This is the Congress afflicted with a foreign mentality, which has no love for the nation, which hates nationalism…”
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Anyone with even a shred of decency, even if politically opposed, will never support Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party for this behaviour, which has tarnished India’s image globally.”
Bihar Minister Sanjay Singh said, “Somewhere, through this, these people have worked to embarrass the country. At a time when national media were present, people from across the country had gathered, and even Presidents and dignitaries from several nations were in attendance, the way Bihar and India were presented before them was not appropriate from any perspective…”
BJP National Spokesperson R. P. Singh claimed that it was done as part of a deliberate and planned conspiracy to defame India. “This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly carried out such actions, which harm India’s reputation,” Singh told IANS.
BJP MLA Shailendra Beldale said that the AI Summit in Delhi, organised under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was a huge success and attracted significant global investment to India. “However, the protest by Youth Congress workers at Bharat Mandapam during such an important global event is condemnable,” he said.
The AI Impact Summit, attended by global leaders, innovators and industry representatives, was projected by the government as a major step in positioning India as a global hub for artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.(Agency)
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