'Sepoys of Lashkar-e-Rahul': BJP escalates attack over protest at AI summit

New Delhi (PTI): The ruling BJP launched a fresh attack on the Congress and Rahul Gandhi on Saturday over a protest staged by the opposition party's youth wing at the India AI Impact Summit here, alleging that it amounted to "treason" because the "sepoys of Lashkar-e-Rahul" tried to tarnish the country's image.

A group of India Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a brief protest on Friday at an exhibition hall of Bharat Mandapam, the venue of the AI summit, raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before being whisked away by security personnel.

Hitting out at the Congress over the protest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "What the Congress has done is not just politics. It cannot be dismissed as mere negative politics, it amounts to treason."

"Until now, Rahul Gandhi used to go abroad and make derogatory, offensive and condemnable statements about India. Now, the flag-bearers and sepoys of Lashkar-e-Rahul are attempting to tarnish India's image in front of foreign guests," Trivedi told reporters here.

He alleged that the protest at the AI summit venue was a "shameful display" of the Congress's "pettiness and nakedness".

"The entire country is anguished and agitated. The people of the country will never forgive the Congress for such a condemnable conduct," he said.