Gopalbhai Gordhanbhai Italia, popular as Gopal Italia (born 21 July 1989) is an Indian politician and social activist from Gujarat. He was elected from

Visavadar Visavadar is a City and a municipality in Junagadh district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. and Visavadar is a gateway of Gir National park. Geography Visavadar is located at . It has an average elevation of 91&n ...

Gujarat Legislative Assembly The Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member ...

in 2025 by-elections. He was a former police constable and a leader of the Patidar reservation agitation. From December 2020 to January 2023, he was the Convener (State president) of

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP, ) is a List of political parties in India, political party in India. It was founded on 26 November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions, following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement against then gover ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Early life

Italia was born on 21 July 1989 in

Botad Botad, located in Gujarat's Saurashtra (region), is a significant city and district headquarters of the Botad district. Established as a separate district in 2013, Botad has developed into a key administrative and economic hub, connecting nearb ...

, India. He completed his primary studies at Timbi village in Umrala Taluka of Bhavnagar district and his secondary studies at Dhola village. He completed his BA in political science from a college affiliated with

Gujarat University The Gujarat University is a public state university located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The university is an affiliating university at the under-graduate level and a teaching university at the post graduate level. It is accredited A+ by NAAC ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

in 2016 and later did LLB at Saurashtra University and passed out in 2020.

Career

From January 2013, Italia worked as a constable in Madhupura Police Station in Ahmedabad Police till 2016. He then in 2014 as a Revenue Clerk posted at the office of Dhandhuka taluka Sub-Divisional Magistrate under

Collectorate. He campaigns for the rights of unemployed youth as well as the rights of citizens. In 2017, Italia served as a government employee. His complaint to the then deputy chief minister Nitin Patel about open violation of the alcohol prohibition policy went viral on social media. He was alleged to have impersonated as a policeman and was charged under Section 120 of the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...

in the incident. In March 2017, he was suspended after allegedly hurling a shoe at Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja. Later In 2017, he resigned from his government job. Italia and others also spent 10 days in prison in a case where they did a protest against a BJP leader.

Social activism

As member of the Botad Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, he took part in the Patidar reservation agitation. He was with Gujarat and District Patidar Andolan Samiti. He was close to Hardik Patel during the Patidar reservation agitation 2015. He created awareness about the constitutional law. In November 2018, in a live video on Facebook, Italia fired shots into the air with a plastic gun to demonstrate the new contraption made by farmers. In January 2019, Gopal was arrested under the Arms Act for shooting a plastic gun.

Aam Aadmi Party

In June 2020, Italia joined Gujarat state unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as the State Vice President. He was appointed the State President on 12 December 2020. After the February 2021 Gujarat local body elections. where AAP won 27 seats in the

Surat Municipal Corporation Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is the local civic body responsible for the administration of Surat, Gujarat which has come into being under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Act, 1949. The Surat Municipal Corporation was established on 2 Oct ...

and one in the

Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation is the local civic body responsible for the administration of Gandhinagar, the capital of the Indian state of Gujarat. It was set up in 2010. Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation has 326 sq km area. History The ...

, he was re-appointed as the president of AAP Gujarat in 2022. In the

2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Elections in Gujarat, Gujarat from 2022 elections in India, 1 to 5 December 2022 in two phases, to elect List of constituencies of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, 182 members of 15th Gujarat Assembl ...

the party received 12.92% vote with 5 seats. He was elected from the Visavadar constituency, defeating his closest rival by over 17,000 votes, in the by-election held in June 2025.

Controversies

BJP protested against Italia over a comment, he allegedly made hurting the Hindu sentiments and faced protests in August 2022." In August 2021, Italia visited a temple in Unjha taluka as part of the AAP's outreach programme. He was arrested by the Mehsana police in a case filed in December 2020 against him for holding a public meeting and demonstration in Mehsana without prior police permission. AAP members staged a protest outside the police station and alleged the arrest was due to political vendetta by the BJP state government. In the evening, Italia was released on bail. In the first half of October, a video of Italia went viral in which he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 'neech' (a lowly person). The

National Commission for Women The National Commission for Women (NCW) is a statutory body of the Government of India, generally concerned with advising the government on all policy matters affecting women. It was established on 31 January 1992 under the provisions of Nation ...

has issued a notice to Gopal Italia and summoned him to appear before commission on October 13 in Delhi. On 13 October, the

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Delhi Police falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. In 2024, the sanctioned strength of Delhi Police w ...

detained Italia from the office of the National Commission for Women, and taken to the police station where he was questioned for 2.5 hours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Italia, Gopal Living people Aam Aadmi Party politicians from Gujarat 1989 births Social workers from Gujarat People from Botad Gujarat University alumni Indian police officers Gujarat MLAs 2022–2027