Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday described the Congress youth wing’s shirtless protest at the India AI Impact Summit as “not appropriate”, even as he continued to criticise the BJP-led central government.
Addressing party workers in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, Yadav said that while political differences with the ruling party were valid, staging such a protest on an international platform was ill-advised.
“We may have differences within India, and the BJP government is indeed cheating us all. But that is a separate thing. What Congress did on the global platform was not appropriate. They should have refrained from doing something that brings shame to our country in front of foreign delegates and world representatives,” he said, according to ANI.
SP Distances Itself From Protest Tactic
Yadav’s remarks are significant because his party is part of the opposition INDIA bloc alongside Congress. However, he was careful to draw a line between his criticism of the protest and broader alliance politics.
The controversy centres on a demonstration by Indian Youth Congress workers at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi during the India AI Impact Summit. Four protesters were arrested after they removed their shirts and walked through the exhibition hall wearing T-shirts bearing slogans such as “PM is compromised”, targeting the India–US trade deal.
The summit was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by global technology leaders, including Sam Altman and Sundar Pichai, along with foreign dignitaries and international representatives.
Delhi Police arrested four of the protesters and later secured five days of custody after a local court rejected their bail plea.
Congress has defended both the protest and its manner. Party spokesperson Pawan Khera argued that the youth wing had channelled widespread anger and maintained that protests are meant to be visible.
“Protest is done where people see it. Protest is done where media cameras are there,” he said, while also questioning what he described as a “compromised” India-US trade deal.
The BJP responded sharply. Party spokesperson Sambit Patra labelled the Congress “topless, brainless and shameless”. Former Union minister Smriti Irani called the protest “an attack on India’s interests”, saying it reflected “contempt for the people of India and for the entrepreneurial spirit of India”. Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan went further, terming it “an act of sedition”.
