The Aam Aadmi Party’s Gujarat unit president Gopal Italia was detained for three hours on Thursday from the National Commission for Women’s office in New Delhi.
He was summoned by the NCW over a old video in which he purportedly criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As soon as the police picked him up, scores of AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, termed the action as an “attack on the Patidar community”.
Italia hails from the Patidar community, one of the most influential communities in Gujarat, which is supposed to have been siding with the ruling BJP.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Italia claimed that he had gone to NCW’s office on his own after coming to know about a notice through social media. Without taking the name of anyone, an unfazed Italia said a woman in the NCW office allegedly insulted him.
“The madam was not interested in talking about the notice, but wanted to scare me and show me my place.”
“Policemen asked me to keep quiet. But, my name is Gopal and I am a child of God. I am not scared of the descendants of Kansa. I will fight and win,” Italia said when asked what happened during his detention.
‘BJP hates community’
He said: “The BJP government killed 14 Patidar youths and booked thousands of youths from the community. But, when I, a commoner with no status (haisiyat), became the president, the BJP started to target me since it hates the Patidar community.”
Italia was referring to the 2015 Patidar agitation for reservation led by Hardik Patel, who is now with the BJP. Italia was part of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), which spearheaded the agitation. It was due to this agitation that is said to have cost the BJP the 2017 Assembly polls.
As a matter of fact, AAP’s first electoral success in the state by winning 27 seats in the Surat municipal corporation last year is largely attributed to the Patidar factor. Italia is credited with having played a major role in achieving this feat.
While he was in police custody, his party leaders, right from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the party’s Rajya Sabha MPs—Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha—rallied behind Italia.