Video: Shirts Off, Youth Congress Workers Protest At AI Summit Over India-US Deal

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 saw several top CEOs speak about the revolutionary jump in technology - and also some angry people who took their shirts off in protest against the India-US framework agreement on trade. People at one of the halls at the AI Summit venue said they heard a crowd shouting slogans outside. When they went to check what happened, a group of shirtless men from the Youth Congress faced them. The crowd then walked in shouting slogans and holding their tshirts.

In response, BJP youth wing members held a massive protest outside the Delhi home of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for making India look bad on the global stage.

Visuals showed the protesters shouted slogans against the government over agreeing to a trade deal with the US. The Opposition Congress has from the beginning alleged India didn't get justifiable benefits from the new trade framework signed with the US.

At least four protesters were arrested, sources said. They have been identified as Krishna Hari, Youth Congress national secretary; Kundan Yadav, Bihar Youth Congress state secretary; Ajay Kumar, UP Youth Congress vice president, and Narasimha Yadav, Youth Congress national coordinator.

Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib is also being questioned at the Parliament Street police station by a joint commissioner of police, sources said.

The Congress workers were prepared to disrupt the event, and somehow they acquired the QR codes to enter the high-security venue, sources said. The police are using facial recognition software to identify them, sources said, adding all of them will be arrested.

The four arrested people will be taken to court today. The police said they will add serious charges in the first information report (FIR) against them, as they had attacked policemen who tried to speak to them.

The police are investigating a larger conspiracy, sources said. The men initially planned to enter Bharat Mandapam by pasting printed stickers to black umbrellas. Then they realised the black umbrellas would be taken from them at the gate.

So, they changed their plan and affixed printed stickers to t-shirts, sources said, adding the police are checking from where they got the stickers printed.

Congress Jealous, Says BJP

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav called the disruption "absolute shamelessness from Congress."

"At a time Bharat is taking strides positioning itself as a global technology powerhouse, Congress is going all out to embarrass the country. This is not political opposition, this is an attempt at sabotaging India's global image. Despicable," he said in a post on X.

Absolute shamelessness from Congress!

At a time Bharat is taking strides positioning itself as a global technology powerhouse, Congress is going all out to embarrass the country.

This is not political opposition, this is an attempt at sabotaging India's global image.... pic.twitter.com/qxv0KCpkE1

— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) February 20, 2026

The BJP also called the attempt to disrupt the AI Summit the result of the Congress's "jealousy" of the India growth story.

"For the Congress, AI means anti-India," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said. "The Congress has once again proven that INC is actually ANC, or Anti-National Congress. The protesters are not just shirtless, but characterless as well," Kohli added.

जब पूरा विश्व भारत को नई दिल्ली में मौजूद भारत मंडपम में आयोजित एआई इम्पैक्ट समिट की मेजबानी करते हुए देख रहा था और तकनीक व नवाचार के क्षेत्र में हमारे बढ़ते वैश्विक नेतृत्व का साक्षी बन रहा था, उस समय कांग्रेस ने देश का सम्मान बढ़ाने के बजाय आयोजन में व्यवधान उत्पन्न करने का...

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) February 20, 2026

As part of the framework of its trade deal with the US, India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers' grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, soybean oil, wine and spirits, among others.

Remember, when their "Pea-brained, immature" leader @RahulGandhi laughs in front of a dead body and wipes his nose on his own party president in public, It's no surprise then that his followers strip their shirts and run around vulgarly at an AI Summit.

Leadership sets the... pic.twitter.com/xaxRpElM2K

— Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 20, 2026

The US will, in turn, apply a reciprocal tariff of 18 per cent on Indian-origin goods under the relevant executive order, covering sectors such as textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastics and rubber, organic chemicals, home decor, artisanal products, and certain machinery.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said this is the time when everyone should support India in getting ahead, and slammed the Youth Congress workers.

What Sam Altman Said

If there is one consensus from the massively successful India AI Impact Summit 2026, it would be the call for regulation of artificial intelligence. The latest to endorse this view is ChatGPT-maker OpenAI's chief Sam Altman.

Altman, who addressed a gathering at the Delhi summit yesterday, said the world needs a body similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency to coordinate efforts on keeping a handle on the extremely fast development and evolution of AI in nearly every field.

"Democratisation of AI is the best way to ensure humanity flourishes... centralisation of AI in one company or country could lead to ruin," Altman said at the event where he was one of the top tech CEOs in attendance.

"This is not to suggest that we won't need any regulation or safeguards. We obviously do, urgently, like we have for other powerful technologies. We expect the world may need something like the IAEA for international coordination of AI," Altman said.

Such a body should be able to "rapidly respond to changing circumstances", he added.