New Delhi: From working as a constable and later a clerk, to playing a prominent role in the Hardik Patel-led Patidar agitation, 33-year-old Gopal Italia — Arvind Kejriwal’s point man in poll-bound Gujarat — has come a long way in his relatively brief political career.
Italia, the president of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gujarat unit, was detained Thursday by the Delhi Police from outside the office of the National Commission for Women (NCW) in the national capital, where he had been summoned in connection with a video of him allegedly using “abusive and indecent language” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was later released after remaining in detention for three hours.
NCW chief Rekha Sharma said she sought police action against Italia after “100-150” of his supporters gathered outside the NCW office Thursday.
While Italia claimed the NCW chief “threatened” to put him in jail, Sharma said his verbal reply to the commission didn’t match his written statements concerning the alleged remarks.
Italia faced controversy after two undated videos of him surfaced earlier this week. In one, he is allegedly heard making remarks about Modi that the NCW chief dubbed “gender-biased, misogynist and condemnable”. In the second, he is allegedly seen appealing to Hindu women not to visit temples, terming them “places of exploitation”.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has drawn on his supposed remarks to train its guns at AAP, the latter claims he is being targeted for two reasons — his “Patel identity” and “AAP’s growing popularity” in poll-bound Gujarat.
Although he joined the party in 2020, Italia is now spearheading AAP’s campaign in Gujarat. He is playing a key role in candidate selection, fundraising, organisation of public meetings and expansion of the volunteer base, according to sources in AAP.
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Constable-turned-politician
Italia joined the Lokrakshak Dal — a unit of the Gujarat Police — as a constable in Ahmedabad in 2013, but always aspired to move ahead in life, said a Gujarat-based AAP functionary who did not wish to be named.
In 2014, he got a job in the state revenue department as a clerk at the Ahmedabad collectorate — a job he held until his dismissal in 2017. It was during his stint with the revenue department that Italia emerged as a key figure in the Patidar reservation agitation led by Hardik Patel, which began in 2015 and took Gujarat by storm.
Arvind Kejriwal had “spotted talent in Italia” during the latter’s agitation days, said a senior Delhi-based AAP leader, recalling a time when the party was still struggling to set up its organisational base outside Delhi.
“He [Italia] was close to Hardik Patel. But it is interesting how they stand on opposite sides of the fence today,” said the leader, in an apparent reference to how Italia joined AAP and Patel — after a three-year stint with the Congress — joined the BJP in June this year.
Dialled Deputy CM, hurled shoe at minister
Italia shot to fame in 2017 when he, as a government employee, dialled then Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel to register his reservations about the state’s prohibition law.
A recording of the conversation went viral and Italia was booked on charges of impersonation for identifying himself as an “LRD (Lokrakshak Dal) jawan” on the call despite having quit the police force in 2014.
Later that year, Italia made headlines for hurling a shoe at then Gujarat minister Pradipsinh Jadeja outside the legislative assembly, alleging rampant corruption in the state. After the incident, he was dismissed from the revenue department for violating service rules.
Dismissed from his government job, Italia became a social worker.
“He was always vocal against the caste system, hierarchies in Hindu temples and events such as Ram Katha. He started a movement called Kayda Katha in 2018, travelling to villages across the state and engaging with the public on the Constitution. It helped him build a strong support base at the grassroots,” said the Gujarat-based AAP functionary.
Soon after joining AAP in 2020, Italia was appointed vice-president of the party’s Gujarat unit and rose through the ranks to become state president. He has been the face of the party in Gujarat for two years now.
Under his leadership, AAP won 27 seats in the Surat municipal polls last year.
Earlier this year, he was arrested and spent 10 days in jail for participating in a protest to demand the removal of BJP leader and former Ahmedabad mayor Asit Vora as chairman of the Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB), which conducts recruitment for some posts under the state government. This was over a recruitment exam held by the board that was cancelled in December 2021 after a paper leak.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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