JhansiOn Saturday, February 21, Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP), publicly denounced the Congress party for holding a protest at the AI Impact Summit 2026, saying, "We may have internal rifts, but what Congress did on the global platform was not appropriate." They ought to have held back from doing something that would have embarrassed our nation in front of international representatives and delegates. Yadav's comments, which disassociated his party from the Youth Congress activists' actions at the high-profile event attended by international dignitaries, highlight the growing tension within the opposition INDIA bloc.
In a dramatic altercation, Youth Congress employees were arrested.Four members of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC)—Krishna Hari, Kundan Yadav, Ajay Kumar, and Narsingh—were taken into custody after causing a disturbance at Bharat Mandapam on Friday while sporting T-shirts that read "India US Trade Deal Compromised." They were accused by Delhi Police of using anti-national slogans, blocking officials, attacking staff, and planning a plot to damage India's reputation abroad that was based on Nepal's Gen Z demonstrations. According to reports, three officers were hurt during the altercation, leading to charges carrying a maximum sentence of seven years.
The accused is placed under five days of police custody by the court.Judicial Magistrate First Class Ravi of the Patiala House Court denied bail requests and mandated five days of police detention in order to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the purported conspiracy. In light of the protest's timing in the presence of foreign visitors, police contended that custody was necessary in order to retrieve cell phones, track down funding sources, find fugitive co-conspirators from other states, and confront electronic evidence. The court overruled the defense's claims of peaceful political expression by citing the dangers of flight, evidence tampering, and the early stages of the investigation.
A fierce legal battle over rights and motivationsDefense attorneys Rupesh Singh Bhadauria, Litesh Batra, and Chitwan Godara denied violence and invoked Arnesh Kumar's guidelines against unnecessary arrests, portraying the accused as educated office-bearers exercising their right to democratic protest amid economic recession grievances. They claimed cruel treatment and a political grudge. Atul Shrivastava, the additional public prosecutor, retorted that the educated youths were aware of the consequences of disparaging the country in front of world leaders through PM-targeted T-shirts and insisted on detention in order to expose the deeper conspiracy and multi-state coordination. Rejecting mechanical remand objections, the IO placed a strong emphasis on visiting the hometowns of the accused to obtain leads.
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