The Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat chief, Gopal Italia, 33, has seen several old videos surface of him in the past few days, showing him badmouthing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his mother, and advising women to avoid religious gatherings. Called for questioning by the NCW in Delhi, he was detained briefly by police. On return to Gujarat, he went straight to Rajkot to visit two temples of the patron deities of the Leuva and Kadva Patidars, Khodaldham and Umiyadham, where he attacked the BJP for "digging out old videos" of his. Italia speaks about the role the Patidars will play in the coming elections, his association with Hardik Patel, and why the BJP has been able to retain power for 27 years. Excerpts: Why are you calling the attacks on you by the BJP an attack on the Patidars? Is this election turning out to be about who is with the Patidars and who is not? The videos being shown of me are of the time when I was not a part of any party, or associated with politics. They are of that time when my community's (Patidar) agitation was on. People were fired upon by the BJP, 14 youths were killed, a thousand were sent to jail. the videos are of that time. So many people have said so much, but they are just sharing my videos of when I was associated with the agitation. This shows that they are targeting at an individual level, they are making personal attacks, because (I am) a Patidar. Even they know that this was during the agitation. Our community people were killed, won't we get angry? How is it relevant now, or relevant to my party? They just hate Patidars, (they) are anti-Patidar. Today I went to Khodaldham, the centre of our community, specially to receive blessings to fight against these sons of Kansa, these children of Kansa. You have been involved in several controversies, including making a phone call to then deputy CM Nitin Patel, pretending to be a police personnel, throwing a shoe at the then MoS (Home), a gun-flashing incident and now these videos. These things happen from time to time, a person keeps moving forward. And if you keep digging someone's past, toh Smriti Irani bhi gas ki bottle sar par rakh kar bahut dance kiye they, Delhi ki sadkon pe. Toh kya matlab hai ab? Kisi mahapurush ne ye bhi kaha tha ki paisa Rs 35 kar denge dollar ki barabari mein, humari sarkar bana do (Union Minister Smriti Irani too protested on the streets of Delhi once with a gas cylinder on her head. What is the meaning of all this then? A 'great man' promised to raise the value of the rupee to Rs 35 against a dollar if voted to power). said will give Rs 15 lakh to every person. A person moves forward based on their experience. It is a continuous process. It is not based on a single incident, nor just two-three incidents. What was the context of those videos of you which are being shared? What was your political position at the time? Mera koi position nahin tha. political position nahin tha. socially mere paas koi position nahin tha. Mere paas andolan ka koi position nahin tha. Main ek volunteer tha Patidar andolan mein (I had no position, no political position, no social position, no position in the agitation, I was just a volunteer). A lot of injustice was done to my community, people were shot at, cases were filed wrongfully against many youth, innocent mothers were beaten up. So I was sad and hurt as to why was this being done to us, what wrong have we done. Jo bhi kaha toh kaha (I said what I said). You once worked with the police force. How do you see the videos of police flogging alleged accused following an incident at a garba in Kheda? Why has your party not taken a position on it? I haven't seen it (the incident). How can I talk about it? I don't know about it, I have been busy with the election campaign, it has not come into my notice. You openly invited Hardik Patel to join AAP when he quit the Congress. Why do you think he joined the BJP? Have you stayed in touch with him? We have a social connection, so that will remain. Samajik roop se toh alag nahin huye hain (We have not parted socially). His political views are different, mine are different, so it's fine. It's everyone's freedom. He took the decision, and only he can tell why he took that decision. He is the best person to tell. What are the issues of the Patidars now? What promises does AAP hold for them if voted to power? Be it the Patidars or any other community. today, all have common issues. There are three major issues. First is inflation. it is not that only one community is struggling with it, all communities are struggling. Secondly, expensive education, or the plight of government education. All the communities have sensed that if good schools can be built in Delhi, then why not in Gujarat? Third issue is that of corruption, everyone is troubled with the issue of corruption. We will resolve these issues. How has the Patidar agitation shaped the politics of Gujarat after 2015? What is the approach of the Patidars towards the BJP since then? Many agitations took place at that time, it was not just the Patidar agitation. There was a Dalit agitation, Thakor (OBC) agitation, and many small agitations. And these (agitations) were quite aggressive, and to a large extent they were almost successful, most of them. So, yes, surely there is a change in politics. Monopoly in politics, that the son of a politician will only become a politician, or someone belonging to a politician's family. that system has weakened. Now people from simple families are coming into politics. I am an example of that, so is Hardik, so is Jignesh (Mevani). Had agitations not happened, youth like us would not have got the opportunity to come into politics. A new zeal and energy has got a place in politics, and people are also accepting this new leadership. There was no ecosystem to make leaders earlier. If someone had potential, and wanted to join politics, without any recommendation, without any godfather, it was not possible. But after the agitation, one can now make a place in politics. In AAP, the 27 councillors elected to the Surat (Municipal Corporation) are all freshers (elections were held last year). They are 22, 25, 28. Forget becoming a councillor, no one gives a post (at this age) to anyone in the main wing of the party. But the change is there. tickets are also being given to them, they are contesting for elections and winning too. This is the major change, and this will change the politics of the whole country. The Patidar agitation happened in 2015, but even then the BJP came back to power in 2017. As you say, many communities agitated against the ruling party. So why did the change not happen on the ground? People have tried bringing about change again and again. Especially after the 2007 elections, the BJP has secured fewer seats in every poll, their seats have never increased. People tried removing the BJP, but the Congress could never defeat the BJP. It is not that the Congress was unable to do that. par Congress ne surrender kar diya BJP ke saamne, dono ne mil-baant ke apni-apni default position set kar li. BJP ne No.1 position le li, Congress ne No.2 le li, aur default roop se chalte rahe (The Congress surrendered in front of the BJP, they connived and took default positions. The BJP took the No. 1 place, the Congress No. 2, and this is how they kept going). People voted for change, but the Congress could not use that to form the government). The Congress made a deal of people's votes, sometimes they sold the votes, sometimes they sold MLAs, sometimes they supported the BJP. In 2017, the same thing happened, every community voted for the Congress to win, but in the end the Congress sold all its MLAs. Because of the surrender by the Congress, the BJP is so powerful.. How far is caste politics relevant in Gujarat? And why the focus of AAP in tribal areas? Caste politics has always been there. so we cannot say that it is over. But people are accepting muddon ki rajneeti (politics of issues). People want us to stick to the politics of issues. The caste factor has relevance, because the BJP and Congress have (ensured) that. But people want to move forward, talk on the issues, so that's what we are doing. (And) if you consider all the rallies, they are happening in Rajkot, Bhavnagar, these are not Adivasi areas. We are focusing equally everywhere.
