Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday labelled the Congress “naked”, referring to a “shirtless protest” by the party’s youth activists two days earlier at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

“The Congress used the platform of an international event held in India for its dirty and naked politics. Congress leaders arrived at the venue, in front of foreign guests, without clothes,” Modi told a gathering in Meerut.

At a time when other Opposition parties have also criticised the protest on a global stage, Modi said the “eccentric and uncontrolled” Congress alone had “sinned”, not its allies like the Trinamool Congress, DMK, BSP and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference.

About 10 Youth Congress activists had taken off their T-shirts — revealing the vests they wore underneath — at the venue in protest against the framework India-US trade deal.

“I want to tell the Congress that the country knows you are naked. Then, where was the need to remove your clothes? Whatever the Congress leaders did there shows that the oldest political party of the country is ideologically bankrupt,” the Prime Minister said.

“The Congress should have remembered that the AI summit was not a BJP programme — it was a national event…. But the Congress crossed all limits…. The entire country is spitting on the Congress’s behaviour but Congress leaders are hurling invectives (at Modi) shamelessly. They are praising the protesters.”

Modi sought to drive a wedge within the INDIA bloc, accusing the Congress of muzzling its allies and flagging the public disapproval that the “shirtless protest” has attracted from some Opposition leaders.

“The Congress doesn’t allow its allies to speak in Parliament. The biggest losers in this situation are the Congress’s partners. They are surprised to see the nakedness shown by the Congress in Delhi. They all have distanced themselves from the Congress,” the Prime Minister claimed.

He advised the media not to write headlines tarnishing the entire Opposition for the Congress’s “sins”.

“I request the media of the country not to write headlines like ‘Modi has washed away the Opposition….’ You are saving the Congress by describing their acts as those of the Opposition,” Modi said. “The other Opposition parties have realised that they suffer for the Congress’s sins….”

He continued: “See what happened in Delhi — did the TMC members commit the sin? No. Did the DMK members commit the sin? No. Did the BSP members commit the sin? They didn’t do that….

“The eccentric and uncontrolled (sirfire aur belagaam) Congress leaders alone are hell-bent on destroying the country…. The Congress has become a burden on the country.

“I’m satisfied that all the Congress’s allies have criticised them for whatever they did in Delhi. I express my gratitude to these parties for standing with the country.”

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have described the protest in front of foreign delegates as a bad idea that should have been avoided.

Modi plugged India’s trade deals with the US and the European Union, which the Opposition has castigated as a wholesale surrender of the country’s interests.

“The international agreements made by the BJP government will benefit those associated with the small and cottage industries,” he said, without elaborating.

Modi was addressing the gathering after inaugurating a ₹12,930-crore, 82km Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat Rapid Rail (Sarai Kale Khan to New Ashok Nagar) and the Meerut Metro. “Namo” (or “NaMo”) also happens to be an abbreviation for “Narendra Modi” used by some media outlets and admirers.

The Prime Minister accompanied a group of schoolchildren on a short Metro ride.

In his address, he referred to the ride while claiming the BJP had improved law and order in Uttar Pradesh since replacing the Samajwadis in power in 2017.

“I just travelled with some students on the Metro train. They told me there used to be fear in the minds of sisters and daughters. The BJP government has provided them with security alongside development,” he said.