Outrageous, shameful, obscene, tasteless, pathetic, stupid, foolish, embarrassing, avoidable: this is how the protest by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) activists at the Artificial Intelligence summit in Delhi is being described. Critics of the protest include even those who are uncompromising critics of the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. The IYC activists had taken off their shirts in a pavilion, waving T-shirts bearing the protest message: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is compromised.” They also shouted slogans criticising the prime minister.

The protest took people by surprise. Given its theatrical nature, it quickly gained traction on social media and became the talk of the town. Immediately, the IYC and the Congress party began receiving condemnation. It was expected that the government and the BJP would lash out at the protesters. But it was intriguing to see some opposition leaders and consistent critics of the BJP government also lambasting the protesters. They felt that an occasion of such international importance should not have been besmirched by a protest like this. After all, what would our international guests think when they saw shirtless people shouting slogans against their own prime minister?

We might have a thousand complaints against the government, but there is always the question of an appropriate occasion and platform, our sensible friends tell the protesters. After all, this is our own government. One can see that they do not disagree with the protesters about the content of the protest; all they are concerned with is its form. They argue that this was an international forum, an opportunity for our local talents to showcase their achievements and find collaborators from abroad. This was a solemn occasion, completely above politics. It should not have been maligned by local political grudges.

This view holds that we should not take our internal squabbles to international forums. When we stand before the world, we are one nation. But is that really true?

Which protest is a nice and proper........

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