BJP stages nationwide protests over Congress’ ‘shirtless’ AI Summit stir, waves black flags at Rahul Gandhi

Protests were held in Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Surat and other cities targeting the Congress party

• BJP protests in multiple cities against Congress shirtless demonstration
• Delhi Police arrested four Youth Congress workers at AI Summit
• BJP leaders called the Congress protest an act of treason

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday held protests in multiple cities in response to "shirtless protest" by Congress' youth wing workers at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

In Mumbai, BJP workers and its supporters staged a black-flag protest against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in the morning and travelled by road to Bhiwandi in neighbouring Thane district to appear before a court in the 2014 defamation case.

A similar situation was seen in the national capital, where BJP leaders and workers held a demonstration near Congress headquarters on Akbar Road. The BJP protesters, carrying placards and raising slogans, slammed the Congress and its leader, Rahul Gandhi, calling them "traitors" for allegedly tarnishing the nation's image.

Leading the protest, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and Lok Sabha MP Manoj Tiwari termed the demonstration by youth Congress workers at the AI Summit as an act of "treason".

Meanwhile, in Jammu too, BJP Yuva Morcha organised a protest. Spearheaded by Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Arun Prabhat, several party workers convened at Kachi Chawni Chowk, chanted slogans against the Congress, burned an effigy of leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and called on him to apologise for purportedly undermining the nation’s honour and standing.

Protests were also held in Jaipur, Surat and other cities targeting the Congress party.

#WATCH | Jaipur, Rajasthan | BJP workers hold a protest against the Congress party over the Indian Youth Congress protest at the India AI Impact Summit yesterday pic.twitter.com/u2xp6wTf9w

— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2026

What happened at the AI Summit?

On Friday, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic "shirtless protest" at the AI Impact Summit exhibition hall in Delhi's Bharat Mandapam, walking around holding t-shirts with slogans against the government and the India-US trade deal printed on them.

Following the incident, the Delhi Police arrested four IYC workers in connection with the protest at the Summit venue, with a senior officer saying that a probe for a wider conspiracy is underway.

Several heads of state, global AI leaders, academicians and researchers, heads of global tech giants and philanthropists attended the massive meet held at Bharat Mandapam.