The high-profile India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam was disrupted on February 20 after a few members of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) staged a “shirtless” protest at the venue. Later, IYC national president Uday Bhanu Chib was arrested. While the move was seen by some as an attempt to draw international attention to the opposition’s concerns, others described it as ill-conceived.
In the immediate aftermath, the Congress appeared to be on the political backfoot, with swift law enforcement action and sharp reactions from rival parties. For some observers, the episode reflected a glimpse of old-style street politics. For others, including sections within the broader opposition ecosystem, it risked harming the party’s standing among nationalist-leaning audiences more than it generated support.
“Congress may have been on the backfoot initially, but the top leadership has backed the incident and turned it into a more aggressive political plank,” says political analyst Aditya Rathi. “Rahul Gandhi has publicly supported them, and on social media the Congress appears to be ahead of the BJP in narrative-building.”
Congress boss and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi hailed the detained IYC protesters as “Babbar Sher comrades,” saying they had fearlessly raised their voices in the nation’s interest against a “compromised PM.” He reiterated on X that peaceful protest is a democratic right and praised the youth wing for what he described as its courage.
Good or bad, the episode has brought the Congress’s frontal organisation back into national focus. For Chib, it marks a moment of visibility for the IYC. Observers note that his predecessor, Srinivas, had kept the youth wing in the headlines through sustained activism.
The current Youth Congress leadership, after Rahul Gandhi's backing, may now seek to consolidate that space and build a stronger support base for the parent party, even if it means returning to a more visible pattern of street-level mobilisation. This comes particularly at a time when the party has not consistently displayed a visible pattern of sustained street-level mobilisation at the national level.
