Senior academicians call IYC protest at AI summit ‘profoundly regrettable and ill-conceived’

Terming the “shirts-off” protest by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers at the AI Impact Summit “profoundly regrettable and ill-conceived”, 160 senior academicians have said that the incident is a reflection of its “inability to distinguish between legitimate democratic dissent and the imperative of safeguarding national prestige on a global stage”.

Among the signatories of the joint statement are JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, IIT Roorkee Director Kamal Kishore Pant, IIT Dharwad Director Venkappayya R Desai, and IIT Jodhpur Director Avinash Kumar Agarwal.

Stating that the India AI Impact Summit marked a defining “national and civilisational moment”, the academicians said it was India’s clear declaration to the world that the country had emerged as a serious and sovereign technological power in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

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“The recent protest by the Indian Youth Congress at the India AI Impact Summit is profoundly regrettable and ill-conceived. This was neither a partisan platform nor a venue for domestic political propaganda. It was an international forum where India was presenting its technological capabilities, strategic vision and national potential before the world,” said the statement.

It said that converting such a moment into an “occasion for political demonstration” reflected a serious lack of judgment and “an inability to distinguish between legitimate democratic dissent and the imperative of safeguarding national prestige on a global stage”.

Noting that in the summit, 644 AI technologies were showcased and 41 CEOs of global technology giants participated, the academicians said the event hosted 326 exhibitors from 37 countries and drew nearly five lakh visitors, making it one of the largest technology gatherings of its kind. “Most significantly, the event resulted in investment commitments worth $250 billion, underlining tangible global trust in India’s technological future,” it said.

“The protest associated with Rahul Gandhi conveyed an unfortunate impression at a time when global investors and technology leaders were assessing India’s credibility as a long-term partner in AI and advanced technologies. As a Member of Parliament, there exists a constitutional responsibility to distinguish between constructive democratic critique and actions that may inadvertently weaken India’s international standing,” said the statement.

The signatories also expressed concern that the “approach adopted by the Indian National Congress did not adequately reflect the broader national interest during such a significant global engagement”.

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“At a time when adversarial countries such as China and Pakistan publicly questioned or sought to diminish the importance of the summit, any domestic political conduct that appears to reinforce those narratives invites serious scrutiny. India’s progress in AI is the collective outcome of its scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, institutions, universities and policy frameworks,” they said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded an apology from Mr. Gandhi over the “shirts-off” protest, stating that the Congress party’s allies also criticised it.

At a press conference on Monday (February 23, 2026), BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi referred to the remarks of Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav made in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi on Saturday, reportedly stating that the Congress should have refrained from doing anything that brought shame to the country in front of foreign delegates.