Rahul Gandhi threw his weight behind the Youth Congress’s shirtless protest at the AI Summit, calling the workers “babbar sher” (lion-hearted), with the BJP asserting that it indicated the Congress MP’s role behind the embarrassing incident. Addressing Congress workers in Delhi, Gandhi brought up the February 20 incident while he was attacking the Narendra Modi government over AI.
“Recently, we had an AI Summit. Kar diya kaam Youth Congress walon ne (the Youth Congress workers have done the job),” Gandhi said. Training his guns on the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition further said, “AI runs on data. Modi is saying AI, AI, AI. But he had handed over all data to the US… and deceived the nation.”
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WHAT HAPPENED AT THE AI SUMMIT?
On February 20, a group of shirtless Youth Congress members barged into a hall at the AI Summit, a global event that was attended by foreign leaders and top tech CEOs, at Bharat Mandapam in the heart of Delhi. The dramatic protest was against the proposed India-US trade deal, which Congress alleged sacrificed the rights of farmers. So far, around 14 Youth Congress leaders have been arrested, including president Uday Bhanu Chib.
The BJP said Gandhi’s remarks clearly suggested that the protest was a “well-thought-out experiment” hatched at the residence of the Congress MP to embarrass India on a global platform.
BJP USES NEHRU EPISODE TO HIT BACK
BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya cited a historical episode to point out that even former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru once took a very different view about “national character” and “loyalty”. Malviya mentioned an incident related to the succession of the Indore royal family after the death of Maharaja Yeshwantrao Holkar II in the 1950s.
The BJP leader said after the king’s death, a debate arose whether his American-born son, Richard Holkar, could inherit the legacy of the Holkar dynasty. It led to a deliberation by the then government.
“After deliberation… Nehru took a clear position: the heir to the throne should be the child born of an Indian mother,” Malviya tweeted. Eventually, Usha Devi Raje Sahib Holkar, the Maharaja’s daughter from his Indian wife, was recognised by the government as the inheritor of the Holkar legacy.
“The precedent was clear: national identity and loyalty were not abstract ideas; they were deeply rooted in origin and belonging,” he further said.
Using the episode to target Gandhi, Malviya suggested that the Leader of the Opposition was ignoring what he described as Nehru’s emphasis on national identity.
– Ends
Published By:
Abhishek De
Published On:
Mar 10, 2026 14:21 IST
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