‘Part-time politician’: BJP chief Nabin attacks Rahul over shirtless protest, calls Congress ‘hollow and unpatriotic’

India's youth, regardless of circumstances, support every form of freedom for India's dignity, but the Congress, when the country was proudly sending a message to the world through AI, acted to undermine this message, Nabin said.

Ahmedabad: BJP president Nitin Nabin on Saturday said the Congress has become an organisation having no intentions, principles and policies, and with a leadership that has become hollow and unpatriotic.

Dubbing Rahul Gandhi as a "part-time politician", he said the opposition party has become "Italian Congress, with no elements of India remaining".

Referring to the "shirtless protest'" by Youth Congress workers at the venue of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Nabin said the direction Gandhi was trying to give to the youth of the country was turning them towards negativity and damaging the country's image.

"There are some elements in the country which are continuously working to harm the honour of this country. While on one hand the country is moving forward under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the other hand there is such an element which is forcing the country to feel ashamed every day," he said in an address at the BJP's booth-level 'karyakarta sammelan' here.

"I believe that an organisation with no intentions, no principles, no policies, and no leadership becomes hollow and unpatriotic, and that very unpatriotic nature was shown yesterday by Congress workers. The Congress under Rahul Gandhi has become a stronghold of urban Naxalism," Nabin asserted.

India's youth, regardless of circumstances, support every form of freedom for India's dignity, but the Congress, when the country was proudly sending a message to the world through AI, acted to undermine this message, he said.

"That is why I say this Congress is not the Congress of the freedom movement; it has become complete Italian Congress, in which no element of India remains. It is working completely with the essence of the Italian Congress, because a person brought up in Indian culture can never betray this soil. If anyone is betraying this soil, then it is definitely the Italian Congress," Nabin said.

He said Gandhi always considers politics to be part-time, and for him it was just an event and a platform for stunts.

"Today when the country feels a sense of pride, you are undermining that pride. You must have seen on many occasions when the Indian flag was gaining respect, Rahul Gandhi's supporters and Rahul Gandhi himself questioned the respect of the country's flag," the BJP chief claimed.

Previous governments led by the Congress remained silent when Indian soldiers were beheaded, but the party now raises questions on India's successful Operation Sindoor.

"We are workers who come from the booth level. The citizens of Gujarat also have to see the political situation in the country and how those who invoke the Constitution tear it apart. Those who do politics in the name of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar defeated him in polls," he said.

He said Gujarat BJP workers have double responsibility, one to develop the state, and at the same time to take the entire country forward.

"We have got 52 percent votes (in the 2024 Lok Sabha election), but in the coming times, we have to increase it further. We are not the kind who sit idle. We will go among the people one by one, contact them, connect with them through the spirit of service, from the spirit of that relationship we contest elections and stand with them," he said.

A group of India Youth Congress (IYC) workers on Friday staged a 'shirtless' protest 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.

A Delhi court on Saturday sent four IYC workers, arrested for the protest, to five-day police custody.

The AI Impact Summit 2026 concluded on Friday with the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact, marking a significant milestone in global cooperation on artificial intelligence.

The declaration has been endorsed by 88 countries and international organisations, reflecting a broad-based global consensus on leveraging AI for economic growth and social good.