The Delhi Police on Thursday detained the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gujarat chief Gopal Italia from the National Commission for Women (NCW) office where he was summoned in connection to his video where he was purportedly seen using derogatory language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Delhi Police action came in the wake of the AAP workers in Delhi protesting outside the office of the NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.
Sharma told the Delhi Police that the supporters of Italia tried to enter the NCW office “forcibly” and action should be taken against him “for creating a law and order situation.”
“Italia’s verbal and written statements don’t match. He has not given a proper reply. He denied getting a summon, but his reply is ready. He also denied his presence in the video but in his reply, he accepts tweeting. He had claimed it was not him in the video,” Sharma said.
“I had an important meeting at 2 pm which is now delayed as I could not step outside. If 100-150 people come and threaten me, what kind of a leader are they? He was supposed to come to the NCW office and only answer a few questions. Why did he have to lie and bring so many lawyers?” she added.
Recently, a video of Italia went viral in which he could be seen mocking the prime minister and also asking women to not visit temples and ‘kathas’ as they are “hubs of exploitation”.
He was summoned by the NCW chairperson for using “abusive & indecent language” against the PM and making comments which were “gender biased, misogynist and condemnable”.
“An indecent word for prime minister is also an insult to the women of our country. The abusive language used by you is gender biased, misogynistic and extremely shameful, condemnable and unbecoming of you,” the NCW had said in its summons issued on October 9.
AAP SMELLS CONSPIRACY
The AAP top brass, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia came out in support of Italia. Sisodia said that those “who don’t even know how to run schools were targeting Italia”.
Italia in an earlier social media post said that the NCW chief wanted to “put him in jail”. “What can the Modi government do except jail members of the Patidar community? BJP hates the Patidar community. I am a descendant of Sardar Patel and not afraid of your jails,” he posted.
Kejriwal tweeted that “why is the entire BJP after Gopal Italia?” while the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh posted: “Why @BJP4India has so much hatred for the people of Patidar community? @Gopal_Italia’s popularity started increasing in Gujarat. When the fear of defeat in the elections started looming, the BJP in Delhi got Gopal Italia arrested.”
Also Read: Gujarat Polls: AAP’s Sisodia Hits The Ground Running
