The parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, on Tuesday adopted a resolution obliquely condemning the Youth Congress’s “shirtless” protest at the AI Impact Summit last week, brushing aside strong objections from Opposition members.
The resolution, which did not name the Congress, was passed by voice vote, with 10 NDA MPs backing it and six Opposition members voting against it. Opposition MPs recorded their dissent, accusing Dubey of politicising the panel and alleging that the resolution had been introduced without prior consultation, sources said.
Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Samajwadi Party members voted against the motion.
Undeterred by the dissent, Dubey later took to X to flaunt the passage of the resolution. “Today, despite opposition from the Opposition parties, the Parliamentary Committee on Information & Technology condemned the incident of blatant misconduct that occurred on February 20…,” he posted. He also shared the text of the resolution on his handle, adding: “Hum gundagardi ke khilaf hain (We are against hooliganism).”
The BJP MP from Godda in Jharkhand has frequently targeted the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family. He has moved a substantive motion seeking termination of the Lok Sabha membership of Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of colluding with anti-national forces. The resolution is likely to be taken up during the second half of the budget session of Parliament commencing on March 9.
The resolution commended Modi for the successful organisation of the AI summit before condemning what it termed an “unfortunate incident” at the venue on February 20.