New Delhi, February 24 – Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena told a Congress delegation on Tuesday that the undignified protest at the venue of the AI Summit last week was ill-conceived, malicious, and amounted to jeopardizing the national image on international forums.
The LG made these remarks before a delegation of the Congress party, including Ajay Maken, MP and Treasurer, AICC, and Devendra Yadav, President, DPCC, and other leaders, according to a statement by a Lok Niwas official.
The meeting took place on the same day that Uday Bhanu Chib, the national president of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), was arrested by Delhi Police for staging a shirtless protest at Bharat Mandapan during the AI Impact Summit on February 20.
The Congress leaders had sought a meeting with the LG to present a memorandum to him regarding the recent police action against Indian Youth Congress volunteers, following their conduct and behavior at the recently concluded AI Summit.
While receiving the memorandum, the LG told the delegation that, without prejudice to the legal merits of the case, the actions of the Youth Congress volunteers were prima facie aimed at discrediting the nation, during an extremely important and topical international event.
While emphasizing that the AI Summit was not being hosted by any individual or political party, but by India as a nation, the LG criticized the protesters' actions in the strongest terms.
Earlier, the Delhi Congress chief accused the Delhi Police of harassing the IYC protesters who staged a shirtless protest.
Yadav said that the Delhi police seem to be completely unaware of the Mandapam incident and were picking up Congress workers from their homes who had nothing to do with the case.
He said that this action by the police is totally illegal and condemnable, adding that it was illegal for the police to make Congress workers sit in the Tilak Marg police station on the pretext of questioning them in order to harass them.
