Shillong, Feb 21: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today criticised the Indian Youth Congress’ “shirtless” protest at the AI Impact Summit, saying “it’s not a platform to play politics”.
Sangma said the “drama” by the Congress was “unfortunate”.
“In such occasion leaders and political party’s must stand together to project the nation. It’s not a platform to play politics … it’s the image of the Country and as an Indian that comes first …” the Chief Minister wrote on X.
A group of India Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a brief protest on Friday at an exhibition hall of Bharat Mandapam, the venue of the AI summit, raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before being whisked away by security personnel.
The Youth Congress workers staged a dramatic “shirtless” protest, walking around holding t-shirts with slogans against the government and the India-US trade deal printed on those.
BJP workers agitated in several states on Saturday against the “shirtless” protest accusing the opposition party of bringing India into disrepute on a global platform.
While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was shown black flags by BJP workers while he was on his way to attend a court hearing in Maharashtra’s Thane, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists held protests in Jammu, Jaipur, Patna, Bengaluru, Panchkula and Indore, among other places.
A Delhi court on Saturday sent four IYC workers, who were arrested for protesting at the summit venue, to police custody for five days.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a fresh attack on the Congress and Gandhi over the protest at Bharat Mandapam. The ruling party alleged that the protest amounted to “treason” as the “sepoys of Lashkar-e-Rahul” tried to tarnish India’s image.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju accused the Congress of committing a “big sin” against the country by deploying its youth wing workers to hold the protest at the summit venue.
Terming the protest “shameful”, he alleged that it was a well-thought-out conspiracy to malign India’s image.
“The Congress using youngsters to defame the country, there could be nothing more shameful than this,” Rijiju told a press conference.
“When India progresses, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress become sad. Congress leaders and workers keep hatching conspiracies round the clock to defame India,” he said.
Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hit out at the Congress over the protest, saying the party has a chronology of “criminal acts” and is unable to accept that a person from a poor family is leading the country as the prime minister.
Naqvi urged the Congress to move beyond its obsession with transforming “democracy into a Disneyland of dynasty”.
He emphasised that the “chronology of the Congress’s criminal conspiracies” is not coincidental, but a matter of choice.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel slammed the Congress and said only to oppose the BJP, the grand old party has adopted a path of opposing India itself.
Leaders from other political parties condemned the Youth Congress protest at the Ai summit venue as well. (With PTI inputs)
