Gourav Vallabh, a former Congress politician, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Ayodhya due to dissatisfaction with the party’s direction and stance on Lord Shri Ram temple.
Former Congress politician Gourav Vallabh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday in the presence of BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, which are scheduled to take place in seven stages beginning April 19.
After joining the BJP, Vallabh stated, “I posted a letter in the morning on several social media channels…In that letter, I expressed all of my stress. This has been my opinion since the beginning: the temple of Lord Shri Ram (in Ayodhya) should be built.”
“Congress received an invitation and declined it. I can’t accept it…The alliance leaders highlighted concerns about Sanatana; why has Congress not responded? …I joined the BJP today and aim to use my skills and knowledge to help India move forward,” he stated.
Vallabh resigned from the party earlier today, stating that he cannot “raise anti-Sanatana slogans or abuse wealth creators.” Gourav Vallabh resigned from the Congress’s main membership, stating his dissatisfaction with the party’s “direction” in moving forward.
In a post on X (previously Twitter), Gourav said, “I am uncomfortable with the Congress party’s current lack of direction. I cannot raise anti-Sanatana slogans or insult the country’s economic creators. I am resigning from all positions and primary membership in the Congress Party.”
VIDEO | Former Congress leader Gourav Vallabh (@GouravVallabh) joins the BJP in New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/SYh16ZQvmn
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 4, 2024
What was written in the resignation letter of Gourav Vallabh?
In his resignation letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Hindi, Gourav Vallabh stated, “I am a finance professor. After I joined Congress, the party appointed me as the national spokesperson. But over the past few days, I’ve felt uneasy about the party’s stance. When I joined the Congress Party, I thought it was the oldest party in the country. Where young, intelligent individuals and their ideas are valued. However, in recent years, I’ve realized that the party’s current shape is incapable of adapting to the youth’s new perspectives.
The party’s ground-level relationship has broken down, making it harder to understand the new India’s objectives. This discourages workers and restricts political progress. The party’s stance on the devotion of Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya is likewise questionable.
The party’s current stance is misleading, as it rejects Hindu society as a whole and advocates for a caste-based census. Congress’ economic policies have been embarrassing and harsh, and they have turned against liberalization, privatization, and globalization programs that the rest of the world has credited them with implementing.
Who is Gourav Vallabh?
Gourav Vallabh is a professor at Jamshedpur’s Xavier School of Management (XLRI).
Gourav Vallabh ran for the Rajasthan Assembly in 2023 from the Udaipur constituency. Despite his efforts, Tarachand Jain, the BJP candidate, won comfortably with a margin of more than 32,000 votes. Jain received 97,466 votes, with Vallabh following behind with 64,695.
Before this, Vallabh began his electoral campaign in 2019 from Jamshedpur East, Jharkhand. Despite receiving more than 18,000 votes, he came in third place, after then-chief minister Raghubar Das and Saryu Roy.
Gourav Vallabh rose to prominence after questioning BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra during a TV debate about the state of the Indian economy, asking him how many zeros there are in 5 trillion. Patra’s attempts to avoid the topic have resulted in a large number of views for the video, which is now viral on all accounts, as well as kudos for Vallabh.
After joining the Congress in 2017, he was quickly hired as a media presenter by the party’s then-communications chief, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and began representing the party on TV debates and press conferences, primarily on weekends, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
In 2022, Gourav Vallabh criticized Shashi Tharoor for his potential AICC presidency nomination, claiming that his “only major contribution” to the party was to send letters to Sonia Gandhi while she was hospitalized. Vallabh’s words were in relation to a letter addressed to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 by a group of 23 leaders, including Tharoor, asking for large-scale party reforms.