High political drama erupted at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Friday, when 20 to 30 Youth Congress workers shed their shirts and staged a half-naked protest against the India-US trade deal — prompting swift detentions by Delhi Police and a fierce counterattack from the BJP.

The demonstration broke out while world leaders and AI luminaries were engaged in summit discussions inside the prestigious venue. The Youth Congress workers, raising slogans and calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "compromised PM," caused a brief but conspicuous disruption that visibly unsettled foreign delegates present at the event.

Delhi Police moved quickly, detaining all the protesters and taking them to Tilak Marg police station, where legal proceedings are now being initiated against the activists.

Youth Congress President Uday Bhanu Chib defended the protest as an expression of nationwide anger, not mere political theatre. He alleged that the India-US trade deal signed by the Prime Minister serves American interests at the direct expense of Indian farmers and ordinary citizens, and framed the demonstration as a democratic duty to amplify the voice of unemployed youth.

The BJP's response was swift and sharp. National Spokesperson Shahzad Poonawala declared that Congress had once again revealed its true colours — arguing that for the party, AI stands not for "Ambitious India" but "Anti-India." He went a step further, sarcastically suggesting the Indian National Congress be renamed ANC — Anti National Congress — and pointed out the contradiction of protesting a summit that even Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had publicly praised.

Through its official social media channels, the BJP branded the incident a "national embarrassment," asserting that disrupting a prestigious global showcase of India's technological leadership in front of foreign guests was not political protest — it was an attack on the country's international standing.