On October 11, an old hate-filled video from 2018 of Aam Aadmi Party’s Gujarat State President Gopal Italia went viral on social media platforms in which he said that temples are places of exploitation and women should not dance during Kathavachan (preaching sessions that happen at temples and during religious events).
Gem of Aam Aadmi party.. another hate speech delivered by Gujarat state president in 2018 pic.twitter.com/dPsAUlExMt
— Amit Kumar (@AMIT_GUJJU) October 11, 2022
In the video, Gopal Italia was holding a book titled “Mahila Arakshan Avam Bhartiya Samaj”, authored by Harimohan Dhavan and Arun Kumar. The book was launched in 2011. It has no ratings on either Amazon or Goodreads and has only one rating on Flipkart.
In the video, Italia said, “I want to request to your mothers and sisters. Oh, my mothers, sisters and daughters, you will not get anything by going to temples or Kathavachan. These are the places of exploitation. If you want your rights, if you want to rule this country, if you want similar rights, then instead of dancing during Kathavachan, my mothers and sisters, read this book.”
Gopal Italia calls PM Modi ‘neech’
This is not the first time a hate-filled video of Gopal Italia has gone viral on social media. Recently, an undated video of Italia where he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘Neech’ went viral on social media.
In this video, Gopal Italia said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a ‘neech’ person. I can’t confirm, but I want to ask you, is there any former Prime Minister of the country who has made so many gimmicks while going to cast a vote? This ‘neech’ type of person is doing road shows here. And he is showing how I am making this country C. You better understand the meaning of C. He talks about digital India and rushes to Gujarat from Delhi to cast a vote. This is how he is making country C. So, this ‘neech’ type of person is giving a message to the country about how he is making this country C.”
Earlier in September this year, a video of Italia went viral where he was addressing a rally. In a speech in Gujarati in Dwarka, Italia said, “Now to relieve everyone from Bhagwan Shri Krishna and these demons of BJP, Arvind Kejriwal has come as Arjun…” While this appears like a slip of the tongue, neither Italia nor Arvind Kejriwal has apologised for comparing Shri Krishna to demons.
Again in the same month, he was booked for using derogatory remarks against Gujarat BJP chief CR Patil and Minister Harsh Sanghavi during a rally that was conducted ahead of the Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022.
