Gujarat Confidential: Italia vs Joshi

Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Visavadar MLA Gopal Italia and Vadodara BJP MP Hemang Joshi have been warring over social media since Wednesday following Italia’s letter to the Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly, demanding that a photograph of tribal revolutionary leader Birsa Munda be placed on the podium of the Assembly. When Joshi questioned why the AAP-ruled former government of Delhi as well as the current state government of Punjab had not installed similar photographs of Birsa Munda in their respective state Assemblies, Italia responded by stating that the tribal population was “zero” in these states while in Gujarat, they made up 15% of the state demographics. Joshi, in another reply, reminded Italia that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre that had nominated Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader from Jharkhand, to the post of President of India — something that the Congress party, “of which AAP was an ally during the elections, never considered possible.”