A public meeting of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Jamnagar took an ugly turn on Friday (5th December), as a Congress worker threw a shoe at AAP MLA Gopal Italia. The incident happened while he was addressing the gathering at the Town Hall.
The meeting was organised to welcome Congress councillors Femidaben Juneja, Aslam Khilji and Advocate Jenabben Khafi from Ward No. 12 of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation, who joined AAP along with their supporters. Italia greeted them and began his speech soon after.
In the middle of the speech, a man who was sitting near the stage suddenly stood up and hurled a shoe towards Italia. He managed to protect himself and remained unharmed.
Jamnagar, Gujarat: During an AAP meeting in Jamnagar, a man threw a shoe at MLA Gopal Italia, causing brief chaos. Police restrained the individual, restored order, and some chairs were reportedly damaged pic.twitter.com/SXad764HCo
— IANS (@ians_india) December 5, 2025
The AAP members on stage rushed towards the attacker, caught hold of him, and started beating him. Police officers present at the venue immediately intervened and took the man away. He was later shifted to a government hospital for a medical check-up.
Police later identified the man as Chhatrapalsinh Jadeja, a Congress worker from Jamnagar.
Gopal Italia said he did not want to file any complaint. In a post shared later on social media, he wrote, “I simply forgive the one who did this act, praying that God keep this person and his family happy.”
“A large public meeting was organised as part of the ‘Gujarat Jodo’ program… As I was speaking, I suddenly noticed a large number of police officers approaching the stage… While I was speaking, a man suddenly stood up from the crowd and threw a slipper at me, attempting to hit me. As soon as he threw the slipper, the police rushed to escort him away,” Italia told the media.
AAP blames BJP and Congress for rising anger
AAP’s chief Arvind Kejriwal reacted strongly to the incident. He said the growing popularity of AAP in Gujarat has worried both the BJP and Congress.
He posted on X, “We have been consistently raising questions about the BJP’s failures, but why is Congress upset? A Congress worker hurled a shoe at AAP MLA Gopal Italia. This shows that in Gujarat, both BJP and Congress are jointly fighting against AAP.”
Kejriwal added that such incidents will not scare AAP leaders. He said people in Gujarat have made up their minds for change, and that is why other parties are feeling threatened.
Congress denies involvement, condemns attack
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Chavda said the Congress party has no role in the incident. He condemned the act and said, “One can oppose differently, but doing such an act is not good.”
He also reminded people that in 2017, it was Gopal Italia who had thrown a shoe at then-Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja, pointing out that Italia himself had done something similar in the past.
Soon after, a video of Chhatrapalsinh Jadeja went viral which he is heard saying that he carried out the act to take “revenge” for Pradipsinh Jadeja.
“A long time ago, Gopal Italia had hurled a shoe at Pradipsinh Jadeja when he was home minister. Today I got a chance, so I threw a shoe at Gopal Italia,” Jadeja is heard saying in the video.
AAP calls it a planned attempt to create fear
AAP state general secretary Manoj Sorathiya criticised the attack, calling it a “low-level act”. He said that anti-social elements were brought in by police and political rivals to disrupt the meeting.
“If they think they can scare Gopal Italia by hurling shoes and stop AAP’s growth in Gujarat, they are mistaken,” Sorathiya said. He added that such incidents will not stop the party’s campaign.
