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'Congress leaders who are making strategy for the Congress to win elections have not even won a class monitor elections.'
'When you have not contested school monitor elections, what will you know about the ground reality?'
One of the harshest critics of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress' national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh has not been seen on television or giving interviews for the last four months.
Suddenly he sprang to life on Thursday, April 4, 2024, only to announce that he was quitting the Congress; within hours he had joined the BJP.
It came as a shock for many because Vallabh is known to be a no-nonsense guy who took on his opponents in the BJP in television debates with gusto.
In a viral video clip, Vallabh questions his then BJP counterpart Sambit Patra who said India would become a $5 trillion economy by 2024.
He asks Dr Patra: How many zeroes are in a trillion?
Dr Patra is at a loss for an answer.
"The Congress does not want new people or new ideology. They only want to criticise the government and run away. This model of development, the people of India will not accept," Gourav Vallabh tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, explaining why he left the Congress for the BJP.
When my editor asked me to interview you because you were joining the BJP, my first reaction was this is fake news. Because the Sun can rise in the West, but Gourav Vallabh can never join the BJP was my thought.
You were the harshest critic of the BJP, so how did this happen?
Congress leaders and allies abuse Sanatan Dharma day in and day out. This is not acceptable. No one should criticise any religion because it is not acceptable.
Secondly, by not going to the pran pratishthan of Lord Ram at Ayodhya, Congress leaders proved that they have no idea what is the emotion of the nation and what is the mood of the nation.
I have raised this question on every platform of the party and seeing that nothing was being done to address my concern I quit the party.
But the pran pratishthan happened on January 22.
I have been saying this openly in the party forum since then.
I have met each and every leader of the Congress party to express my reservations for the last four months.
Every wealth creator is being abused by the Congress party.
If Air India has been brought by an Indian corporate they abuse that corporate group.
One Parsi group CEO praised the Modi government, then the Congress started abusing that Parsi group CEO. Abuse industrialists like Adani-Ambani day in and day out. Whoever creates wealth in India, he is being abused by the Congress party.
India is one of the most unequal countries in terms of wealth. Is this right, you feel? We are a poor country with an affluent elite
I agree with you that we are an unequal society. But you answer me, by abusing wealth creators will there be equality in society?
You (Rahul Gandhi) bring down wealth creators every now and then. If this goes on, wealth creators will run away from India to some other country.
The jobs they are creating will get stopped and will be created in some other country.
But where are the jobs being created?
I am saying the Congress is behaving in a way that whatever jobs that we are creating will also be not created.
I am not saying 100 percent youth are employed.
I interviewed Acharya Pramod Krishnam who was expelled from the Congress and he said the same things what you are saying.
Even after the Acharyaji episode I went to every Congress leader and told them to hear out what he is saying and pay attention to those issues.
I had stopped participating in TV debates as a Congress spokesperson for the last four months.
I knew what was going on in the party and I was concerned about it.
I wanted that to change and lent my voice to it in the party forums. Unfortunately, no one listened to me or gave any importance to my concerns over the way the party was heading.
Expelled Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said in Mumbai that there are only five leaders who run the Congress party. Is it true?
Only one man runs the Congress and he is not from the Gandhi family. He is not even (Congress president Mallikarjun) Kharge.
He has no ground connect. His knowledge is zero. I don't want to name him because I don't want to comment on individual names.
One can figure out who you are pointing to. What magic does he have?
I have no idea. He is a worthless man for me. He has no ground connect. He does not understand economics. There is no place for new people in the Congress party (because of him).
Twenty five years ago if one man was making the Congress party's election manifesto, the same man is making it even today.
If he was so important and a visionary, why would the Congress have lost the elections?
Twenty five years ago the man who was the media in-charge of the Congress party, the same man is the media in-charge of the Congress today.
These Congress leaders who are making strategy for the Congress to win elections have not even won a class monitor elections.
When you have not contested school monitor elections, what will you know about the ground reality? They only give lectures due to which the Congress will not benefit in any way.
Those who are on the ground and know the mood of the nation or emotion of the nation are not decision makers of the Congress party.
The AICC has become the All India Chaaploos(sycophants) Committee. It is no longer the All India Congress Committee.
The Congress party is run by personal assistants of ex-UPA (United Progressive Alliance) ministers.
What about secularism? Have you now abandoned it?
The Vision 2047 of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not a communal example, but a secular example.
The Vision 2047 of Prime Minister Modi speaks about development of each Indian and how to increase their per capita income.
India will not progress if you give gaalis (abuses) to its economic policies of liberalisation which results in the growth of the country's GDP.
You cannot criticise an individual if s/he goes and clicks a picture with Prime Minister Modi.
The country runs on constructive criticism and the Congress is running away from constructive criticism.
When you joined the Congress in 2017, what were your expectations?
I joined the grand old political party thinking a new person like me will be accepted with new ideas and I will get a new role in the party.
The Congress in its Udaipur resolution said 50 percent of party posts will be given to people who are below the age of 50.
Show me a place where this has been implemented.
Show me any Pradesh Congress Committee leader who is less than 50 years old.
Show me any District Congress Committee leader who is below 50.
Show me any Congress candidate who got a ticket to contest who is below 50 years of age.
The truth is, the Congress does not want new people or new ideology. They only want to criticise the government and run away. This model of development, the people of India will not accept.
You cannot criticise the Congress because you were given a chance to contest elections from Jamshedpur and then Udaipur.
My dear friend, I did not ask for those tickets to contest the elections.
The Congress was not getting any candidate to contest against the chief minister of Jharkhand (Raghubar Das) so they put me forward in Jamshedpur. I put in my best efforts to contest.
Similarly in Udaipur, the Congress had faced defeat six consecutive times and I was sent to contest elections over there. I went and contested the seat there too. [He lost both the elections].
You shot into the limelight when you took on BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra over the $5 trillion economy. When do you expect that to happen?
India will become a $5 trillion economy and we will achieve our mission of Vision 2047 of Prime Minister Modi.