Violence, arrests, and heated rhetoric mark a dramatic escalation between Congress and BJP following a provocative protest at India's flagship artificial intelligence showcase. In Indore, a violent clash broke out between the Congress and the BJP workers during the BJP's protest condemning the Indian Youth Congress protest at the India AI Impact Summit on Friday. A major political confrontation gripped the national capital on Friday as tensions between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party spilled into open violence, triggered by a dramatic disruption staged by Indian Youth Congress workers at the India AI Impact Summit — one of the government's most high-profile technology initiatives in recent memory.
The crisis began when a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) members allegedly gained entry to Bharat Mandapam under false pretenses and attempted to disrupt the ongoing summit, raising slogans and wearing T-shirts bearing what police described as "objectionable images" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident sent shockwaves across the political establishment and triggered a swift, cascading series of confrontations that lasted through the day.
Hours after the disruption at Bharat Mandapam, BJP youth wing workers descended on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Delhi residence to stage a counter-demonstration, condemning what they called a deliberate and shameful act of sabotage. What began as a protest, however, rapidly deteriorated into a violent clash between BJP and Congress workers at the site. Stone pelting was reported, prompting police to deploy in force to contain the situation and restore order.
The confrontation has come to symbolize just how combustible the rivalry between the two parties has become, with the AI summit — meant to project India as a global technology powerhouse — transforming overnight into the unlikely stage for one of the bitterest political flashpoints of the year.
The legal fallout from Thursday's protest moved swiftly on Friday. A Delhi court sent four arrested IYC workers — Krishna Hari, national secretary of Youth Congress from Bihar; Kundan Yadav, IYC state secretary from Bihar; Ajay Kumar, IYC state president from Uttar Pradesh; and Narasimha Yadav from Telangana — to five days of police custody. Judicial Magistrate Ravi allowed Delhi Police's application for custodial interrogation, with a detailed order still awaited.
Delhi Police made its case forcefully in court, arguing the matter was of serious national concern. The prosecution contended that the accused raised anti-national slogans at the venue and that their mobile phones needed to be recovered as part of an ongoing investigation. Given that the accused hailed from multiple states, the police argued that custodial interrogation was essential to unravel the full conspiracy — including who organized the protest, who funded it, and where the controversial T-shirts were printed. Officers also noted that three police personnel had been injured when an attempt was made to obstruct them during the arrest.
Counsel for the arrested protesters pushed back firmly, arguing that the four individuals had exercised a fundamental democratic right to peaceful protest and that their arrests represented a dangerous assault on the dignity of democracy. The defense drew pointed comparisons, suggesting that if protests warranted arrest, Members of Parliament demonstrating within the halls of Parliament would be similarly liable.
The political condemnation came swiftly and loudly from beyond Delhi as well. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took to social media platform X to deliver a scathing rebuke of the Youth Congress, calling their conduct at the summit nothing short of treasonous.
"At the same time when India's technological prowess was being showcased to the world," Shinde wrote, the Youth Congress had attempted to defame India globally by creating what he called an uncivilized disturbance in front of foreign guests. He demanded that the Congress party and its leaders issue a formal apology to the people of the country, insisting that if the party had ideological objections to any India-US agreement, it should have expressed those views through proper political channels rather than by creating a public spectacle on an international stage.
Shinde also directed sharp criticism at Rahul Gandhi personally, questioning what could be expected from a leader he accused of spreading disinformation about India during visits abroad.
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