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New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.

Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.

In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.

Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.

"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.

The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.

On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.

“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.

He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.

"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.

The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.

"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.

Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.

In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.

"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.

On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.

He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.

"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.

Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.

"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.

Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.

"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?

"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.

The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.

"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.

The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.

"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.

The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.

“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.

He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.

India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.

“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.

Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.

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New Delhi: Several micro-influencers who had uploaded videos alleging that the Congress party approached them with monetary offers to run campaigns targeting the AI India Summit have reportedly deleted those videos from their social media handles.

This comes in the backdrop of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) moving to initiate legal action against what it termed a “malicious, coordinated, and politically motivated propaganda campaign.”

The legal department of the Indian Youth Congress issued a formal statement on February 27, warning of civil and criminal proceedings if the allegedly defamatory content was not taken down within 24 hours.

In its statement, the Indian Youth Congress said, “a malicious, coordinated, and politically motivated propaganda campaign is being orchestrated to defame the Indian Youth Congress.”

The IYC rejected the claims made by the influencers and issued a warning stating, “If the impugned posts or videos are not removed within 24 hours, the Legal Department of the Indian Youth Congress will initiate appropriate civil and criminal proceedings.”

Following the legal warning, several influencers who had earlier posted videos alleging that the Congress party’s PR team had approached them to criticise and highlight alleged mismanagement at the AI India Summit have reportedly removed those videos from their accounts.

Vartha Bharathi could not independently verify all the social media handles involved. However, a check of a few prominent accounts showed that the videos were no longer available.

One such user, Vinayak Dev Trivedi, who has around 75,000 followers on Instagram, had claimed that he was offered Rs 25,000 to criticise the AI Summit and that he had received a message from the Congress party’s PR team. The video posted by him has since been deleted from his official Instagram handle.

A Google Lens scan of the earlier video now redirects to a page stating that the content is unavailable.

However, Trivedi has since posted another Instagram post claiming that he appeared in a debate programme hosted by India TV on the same issue.

News channel India TV hosted dedicated shows related to the issue.

Another influencer, identified as Shivay Rajput, who has around 11,000 followers, had gone viral with a video in which he claimed he was offered Rs 55,000 to make a video targeting the AI Summit. A check of his official Instagram handle showed that the video has been deleted.

Similarly, an influencer using the handle “chhotatoofann,” who has around 4,000 followers, has reportedly deleted all videos from her official account.

Raavi Vishwakarma, an influencer with around 81,000 followers, has also deleted the video in which he allegedly made similar claims.

Another user, Anupreet Singh, whose video had also allegedly gone viral, has removed the content. The user describes himself as a, “A (proud) BJP supporter.”

Yet another influencer, Prafful Garg, has also reportedly taken down his video after the legal notice. While he claimed in an Instagram comment that the video was still available, checks conducted later could not locate any such content on his handle.

An ‘X’ user, @Amockx2022, claimed that most of the influencers who made the allegations were aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party ecosystem. The user wrote that, “if they got offers from Congress against AI summit, then why didn't any anti BJP influencer actually posted such campaign? It can't be possible that Congress will approach only pro BJP people.”

According to claims that had gone viral earlier, influencers alleged they were offered amounts ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 40,000 to push negative content against the AI Summit.

Some creators had also shared screenshots of messages which allegedly stated, “Ask for whatever you want just defame the AI Summit.”

Meanwhile, the Indian National Congress on Friday strongly rejected the allegations, calling them a “fake story” originating from the BJP IT Cell.

Congress social media department head Supriya Shrinate said that the party had been subjected to a witch-hunt through fake news over the past 48 hours.

Addressing the press, Shrinate said that, “ all kinds of fake news has been planted. It has been alleged that the Congress Party, the Indian Youth Congress, allegedly paid some Instagram influencers to make reels and videos opposing the AI Summit.”

Rejecting the claims, she said that, “we have never paid anybody to make any video like that. We categorically said it from day one. This is absolutely fictitious and fake news.”

Shrinate also revealed that when Youth Congress said about legal action most of them deleted their videos.

 
 
 
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She said, “They are running helter-skelter, they've got scared. And most of these accounts, and I have a list of these guys here, most of these accounts are now basically deleting and running away. Even when they were alleging that the Congress had asked them to make these videos, they never made the name of the person public.They never revealed the number. All those things were hidden. Who knows? It's the BJP IT cell that had got that message circulated.”

She also alleged that “It's the BJP IT cell that got all these Instagram influencers to make videos against the Congress. Because the reality is that all of those videos, all of those influencers are a part of the pro-Modi, pro-BJP ecosystem. They constantly and repeatedly and frequently keep making videos supporting the BJP and all its ill-gotten and ill activities and misadventures.”

She said that since the videos have now been deleted, the obvious question is who got those videos made in the first place, and why the influencers did not make public the names and numbers of the people who allegedly contacted them, asserting that they had no such evidence and that the entire episode was absolute fake news and a completely fictitious story that originated from the BJP IT cell.

She stated that people across the country now know exactly what transpired at the AI Summit, alleging that there was absolute mismanagement, that when the Prime Minister arrived for a photo opportunity those who had purchased kiosks were pushed out, that tech equipment was stolen, that there was no stable internet connectivity, and that a Chinese robot appeared at India’s own innovation summit.

She further said that no inquiry had taken place into how a Chinese robot and a Korean ball made their way into the event, asserting that these facts were not stated by the Congress but were made public by entrepreneurs and tech entrepreneurs themselves.

She added that she hoped India’s mainstream media, which had conducted multiple debates on the alleged influencer deals, would also debate why those videos were deleted, who got them made, who ordered their deletion, where the instructions to create the alleged videos came from, and who within the BJP IT cell issued those orders.

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