Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Italia had appeared before the Commission’s office earlier in the day in response to a summons in the case. He was taken away in a police car minutes after he claimed Rekha Sharma, NCW chief, threatened to put him in jail. The Gujarat chief of the Aam Aadmi Party was detained from the National Commission of Women’s Delhi office this afternoon over a controversial video in which he was allegedly heard using derogatory language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Italia’s allegation came nearly an hour after Sharma accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers of creating a ruckus outside her office. This triggered another flashpoint between the AAP and BJP with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attacking the BJP for being after Mr Italia.
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.
The case pertains to a controversial video, reportedly from 2019, in which Mr Italia was allegedly heard using abusive terms, including “neech aadmi (lowly person)”, to describe PM Modi. The Commission had summoned him to its office today in the case, stating that his language was “gender-based” and “misogynistic”.
“He denied getting a summons but his reply was ready. He also denied his presence in the video but in his reply, he accepted tweeting. He claimed it wasn’t him in the video,” said the women’s panel chief.
Earlier in the day, she claimed on Twitter that AAP workers were creating a ruckus outside her office. Tagging the Prime Minister’s Office and other police handles, she also shared a photo of a crowd holding banners. Nearly an hour later, Mr Italia claimed on Twitter the Commission’s chief was threatening to put him in jail and even called the police.
“The NCW chief is threatening to put me in jail. What else can the Modi government give to the Patel community. The BJP hates the Patidar community. I am a descendant of Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel. I’m not afraid of your prisons. Put me in jail. Even the police have been called. I am being threatened,” he said in a tweet.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Girish Soni told Afternoon Voice, “We respect every woman and there are a lot of rumours being created by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and we have always worked to make sure women are not facing any issues.”
Mukesh Ahlawat, AAP leader said, “We respect every people and there is wrong information being spread by the opposition as they are not able to compete in competitive elections we have always maintained equality on all the people and we also respect everyone from all the communities.”
Dharampal Lakra, AAP leader said, “Even many people from our party belong to the Hindu community so we are not against any Hindutva and we have not defamed anyone and we respect every citizen of the country and BJP always issues on the name of the Hindu community and the tricks which are applied to divided people in the name of religion in politics is not right.”
