On Wednesday, January 4, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did a major reshuffle in the party’s Gujarat unit. AAP’s organizational leadership has promoted foul-mouthed Gopal Italia as the National Joint Secretary and the Sah-Prabhari (co-in charge) for the Maharashtra post. Italia has earlier been AAP’s state President.
List of AAP leaders given new posts
Interestingly, while Gopal Italia embarks on the journey of national politics, AAP’s chief ministerial face Isudan Gadhvi in the recent state assembly elections has been appointed as the party’s state President. This comes after AAP could only win five seats while it contended the election on 180 of 182 seats.
It is pertinent to mention that both Gopal Italia and Isudan Gadhvi lost to their respective opponents in the Gujarat assembly elections wherein Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a historic win. While Gopal Italia who contested from Katargam lost to BJP’s Vinod Moradiya, Isudan Gadhvi lost to BJP candidate Mulubhai Bera from Khambhalia.
Taking to Twitter, Isudan Gadhvi thanked AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and also congratulated Italia for his new responsibility.
“Thank you very much Arvind Kejriwal ji for trusting us all! We will continue to work tirelessly to serve the people and strengthen the party! Congratulations to Gopal Bhai and the entire team for the new responsibility!,” Gadhvi’s tweet written in Gujarati read.
અરવિંદ કેજરીવાલજીનો ખુબ ખુબ આભાર કે અમારા સૌ ઉપર વિશ્વાસ મુકવા બદલ !અમે લોકોની સેવા માટે અવિરત કાર્ય ચાલુ રાખીશું અને પાર્ટીને મજબૂત બનાવીશું ! ગોપાલ ભાઈ અને સમગ્ર ટીમને પણ નવી જવાબદારી માટે ખુબ ખુબ અભિનંદન ! https://t.co/Ph2dxysvRi
— Isudan Gadhvi (@isudan_gadhvi) January 4, 2023
Meanwhile, Gopal Italia also expressed gratitude towards Arvind Kejriwal and AAP’s National General Secretary Organisation Sandeep Pathak on Twitter.
“By first appointing a simple youth like me as Gujarat state President and now handing over the charge of Maharashtra state as well as with national responsibility the party has trusted me. I thank the national convenor of Aam Aadmi Party and our ideal @ArvindKejriwal Ji and @SandeepPathak04 Ji,” Italia tweeted in Hindi.
एक छोटे से साधारण युवा को पहलें प्रदेश अध्यक्ष और अब राष्ट्रीय ज़िम्मेदारी के साथ महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश का प्रभार सौंपकर मेरे ऊपर विश्वास किया है।
— Gopal Italia (@Gopal_Italia) January 4, 2023
मे आम आदमी पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय संयोजक व हमारे आदर्श श्री @ArvindKejriwal जी एवम् श्री @SandeepPathak04 जी का बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद करता हूँ। https://t.co/SLxYxpk1Rh
It is notable that Gopal Italia has been in controversy for his derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and for calling temples “places of exploitation.”
In October, a month ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, an old video of Gopal Italia making derogatory remarks against PM Modi went viral on social media. In the viral video Italia was heard calling PM Modi a ‘neech’ person.
Besides, in a 2018 video of Gopal Italia that went viral on social media, Italia was heard saying that temples are places of exploitation and women should not dance during Kathavachan (preaching sessions that happen at temples and during religious events).
AAP promoting a foul-mouthed and known Hinduphobe like Gopal Italia to a national role is not surprising at all since many AAP leaders including the AAP supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal himself have time and again courted controversy by making outrageous remarks against Hindus.
