India, Feb. 24 -- As many as 160 academicians have termed the Congress youth wing's protest at the AI Impact Summit last week "profoundly regrettable and ill-conceived", and said it reflected the opposition party's inability to distinguish between legitimate democratic dissent and the imperative of safeguarding national prestige on a global stage.

The protest "associated with Rahul Gandhi" conveyed an "unfortunate impression" at a time when global investors and technology leaders were assessing India's credibility as a long-term partner in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies, they said in a joint statement on Monday.

"As a Member of Parliament, there exists a constitutional responsibility to distinguish between constr...