Ravi Kishan spotted with Gucci bag in Parliament

Why is Ravi Kishan silent about the bag made from cowhide?

The power and glamour of politics have always attracted the giants of the acting world. From Hindi cinema, Amitabh Bachchan, Sunil Dutt, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Prada, Jaya Bachchan (Bhaduri), Govinda, among others, have tried their luck in politics. They have been successful, but here, Sunil Dutt and Jaya Bachchan stand out as two names who have appeared with dignity in both Parliament and on the streets. The rest came and went as they came. In the South, cinema artists have taken charge of politics. NTR, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, and now Thalapathi Vijay. The actors and actresses there truly know how to engage in politics.

Similarly, two giants from Bhojpuri cinema, Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan, have entered politics and have remained relevant to this day. However, they are often in the news not for their work but for other reasons.

There is a basic difference between acting and politics. In acting, one has to deliver dialogues according to the script within the frame set by the director, and mistakes can be rectified with retakes. In politics, every word is scrutinized. There are no retakes for mistakes. Even the best actors can prove to be clumsy on the political stage. Ravi Kishan's character serves as a case study to understand all this.

Our Jaunpur's fertile soil has provided the country with numerous talents. Like Dr. Lal Ji Singh, who made a name in DNA synthesis, Tilakdhari Singh, who laid the foundation of TD College, poet Wamiq Jaunpuri, and in bureaucracy, an entire village has made its mark, named Madhopatti. This village is indeed an IAS factory.

This area has given birth to another talent. His name is Pandit Ravi Kishan Shukla, who has made the city proud in the world of acting as Ravi Kishan. I had seen a television series during the Doordarshan era. In this series, Ravi Kishan's role was always that of a victim. Doing small roles like this, he eventually joined Manoj Tiwari, who revived the Bhojpuri cinema that had seemingly died. Manoj Tiwari was the hero of Bhojpuri's first blockbuster Sasura Bada Paisawala. After that, Ravi Kishan took charge, becoming a superstar of Bhojpuri cinema with hit film after hit film.

After establishing Bhojpuri cinema, Ravi Kishan began to strive for recognition in Hindi cinema. In the 1990s, he took on small roles in films like Zakhmi Dil, Aatank, and Army. He came into the limelight by playing the character Pandit Rameshwar alias Chundi in Salman Khan's much-discussed movie Tere Naam. Additionally, he played the stuttering goon Chhote in Hera Pheri, the mentally unstable criminal Raghav, the character Mangal in Mani Ratnam's film Raavan, and the main villain Sumer Yadav in Bullet Raja, while his role as Dalit coach Sanjay Kumar in Anurag Kashyap's film Mukkabaaz showcases Ravi Kishan's talent.

Last year, he garnered praise for his role as Inspector Shyam Manohar, who is always chewing betel, in Laapataa Ladies. Additionally, his role as Advocate Tyagi in the web series Maamla Legal also left a mark. His acting journey proves that he is a hardworking, talented, and successful actor.

After earning fame and money in the world of acting, Pandit Ravi Kishan Shukla stepped into politics in 2014. He contested under the Congress banner from his ancestral city Jaunpur and faced a severe defeat. In 2017, he switched from Congress to BJP and has been an MP from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, since 2019.

Ravi Kishan is as good an actor in front of the camera as he is a poor speaker on stage or in front of a live camera. He and his Bhojpuri cinema rival Manoj Tiwari often make headlines due to their ridiculous statements and antics in front of the media. During a protest at Jantar Mantar against paper leaks and demanding the resignation of the education minister, he mistakenly referred to the NEET paper as a newspaper. He also refers to work from home as home from work.

Ravi Kishan's most talked-about statement was made during the inauguration of the modern crematorium (Guru Gorakhnath Ghat and Shri Ram Ghat) on the banks of the Rapti River in Gorakhpur. In the presence of CM Yogi Adityanath on stage, Ravi Kishan said:

If you die here, you will go directly to heaven. When you are cremated here, how much joy it will bring. It is state-of-the-art, electric. Therefore, there will be no delay in the cremation… you will go directly to heaven. He added that only those who do not defecate here in the morning will go to heaven.

Hearing his speech, CM Yogi Adityanath was seen laughing while holding his head on stage.

Recently, when he arrived in Parliament wearing an Indian outfit of dhoti and kurta, the expensive Gucci bag he was holding was made from the skin of a calf. While the entire Hindu nationalist party and its affiliated organizations are going to any lengths for cow protection, Ravi Kishan cannot seem to resist showing off his expensive Gucci bag made from calf skin.

While glorifying his days of poverty, he stated that he has seen such poverty that even today when I go to a seven-star hotel, I do not order good food. Whether it is the production budget or my own money, I still only order plain khichdi. I hesitate to send clothes to the laundry.

Immediately, people on social media began discussing the price of this bag and its being made from cowhide. A user named Vaibhav Mishra wrote-

That’s a hideous Gucci bag, a user named Deshbhakt wrote-

So called Hindu! and also posted information obtained from AI.

However, neither Ravi Kishan responded to this nor was there any discussion about it in the media.

Political parties have always resorted to the shortcut of glamour to win elections. Rajiv Gandhi had fielded the then superstar Amitabh Bachchan against veteran Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna for the Allahabad parliamentary seat. In Virar, Maharashtra, the then Petroleum Minister Ram Naik was opposed by the local boy Govinda. While Amitabh won in Allahabad, Govinda won in Virar. It is another matter that both had renounced politics a few years later.

In the era of free internet and social media, the role of jesters in politics has also become significant. News channels and independent media eagerly await their bites on camera because they contain all the elements to go viral.

The renowned actress of Hindi cinema, Kangana Ranaut (Ranawat), is also a similar example to Ravi Kishan. The only difference is that while Ravi Kishan's statements play the role of a comedian in films, bringing smiles to the audience's faces, Kangana Ranaut, the gangster, queen, and Tanu Weds Manu girl, remains in the news due to her venomous and hate-filled statements.

Ravi Kishan's calfskin office bag weighs as heavily on his cultured Indian attire as his acting weighs on his fellow artists. Here lies a question: can a Muslim-named MP carry a Gucci bag made from calfskin into Parliament with the same swagger? Or what would happen if the police recovered this bag from an ordinary Muslim's home!