New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, and said the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for India's development.

Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own 'Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.

Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who “fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.

"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The ‘lions’ of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.

The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.

On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.

"Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests," Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.

The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.

"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.

Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the “enlightened public” of the country is “teaching a lesson” to Congress now.

In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, he said.

“Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.

On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.

He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.

"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.

The prime minister also said that capability does not come suddenly to any country; it is built over generations, and honed by knowledge, tradition, hard work and experience.

Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had filled the feeling of the country's capability with inferiority, and the ideology imported from other countries had deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, Modi said.

"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the ‘Fragile Five’, and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us? “Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said. PTI ACB BJ ARI

Political accountability: Opposition criticised for AI Summit protest, while government affirms focus on national development and institutional strengthening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the opposition for a shirtless protest at an AI summit as evidence of its decline, emphasising that the government will continue its development agenda. He argued that an opposition's democratic role is to offer alternatives rather than reflexive opposition, cited millennials and Gen Z voter shifts as eroding the opposition's support, and linked recent trade deals to strengthened national institutions and reclaimed capability.