AAP Gujarat chief Gopal Italia released after 3-hour detention by Delhi Police

AAP Gujarat Chief Gopal Italia was arrested by Delhi police in connection with a video where he used abusive terms for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His arrest triggered a row between the AAP and BJP.

Image source: Twitter

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat chief Gopal Italia has been released three hours after he was detained by the Delhi Police on Thursday from the National Commission for Women(NCW) office in connection with a video where he used derogatory language for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Italia was summoned by the NCW after a video of him using derogatory language for Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral on social media. In the viral video, Italia can be seen berating PM Modi and making casteist remarks on him. Meanwhile, AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has expressed hapiness over Italia's release. 

Reacting to Gopal Italia's release, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, Due to heavy pressure from the people of Gujarat, he had to leave Gopal Italia. The people of Gujarat won.

गुजरात के लोगों के भारी दबाव के चलते इन्हें गोपाल इटालिया को छोड़ना पड़ा। गुजरात के लोगों की जीत हुई। https://t.co/kzmuy8cdTu — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 13, 2022

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia too slammed the BJP and said Mr Italia was detained because he belonged to a party that knows how to build schools. "They don't know how to educate people and improve schools," the senior AAP leader said.

Before his arrest, the AAP leader in a tweet accused the NCW chief Rekha Sharma of threatening him put me in jail. 

He said, "The chief is threatening to put me in jail. What can the Modi government give to Patel community other than jail. BJP hates Patidar society. I am a descendant of Sardar Patel. Not afraid of your prisons. Put me in jail. He has also called the police. I am being threatened."

. @NCWIndia चीफ़ मुझे जेल में डालने की धमकी दे रही है। मोदी सरकार पटेल समाज को जेल के सिवा दे ही क्या सकती है। बीजेपी पाटीदार समाज से नफ़रत करती है। मैं सरदार पटेल का वंशज हूँ। तुम्हारी जेलों से नहीं डरता। डाल दो मुझे जेल में। इन्होंने पुलिस को भी बुला लिया है। मुजे धमका रहे है। — Gopal Italia (@Gopal_Italia) October 13, 2022

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra slammed Italia over his remark."Calling the Prime Minister a lowly person is against the democratic rules of the country; it is an insult to the country. Be it any caste, or any religion, no person can be lowly," Patra said at a press conference. 

"An OBC Prime Minister who comes from a backward class, who comes from a poor and ordinary family, repeatedly calling him lowly, what is this abuse? Does the Aam Aadmi Party want to call the backwards-class people low? Anyone who rises from an ordinary poor family and becomes the Prime Minister is not lowly in the democratic process. No, it is against democratic values," he added.

"The Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal are the people who said that they have come to change the character of India. If the democratically elected influential and hardworking Prime Minister is called lowly, and he is calling the PM lowly in that video, not once, but somewhere it shows the mentality of the Aam Aadmi Party," he stated.