Old video lands Ravi Kishan in row, he says it’s a conspiracy
In the video shot inside a moving car, the actor is apparently heard rebuking fellow party workers for getting him to travel in an overcrowded car and forcing him ‘to smell the odour emanating from sweat’.
At a time when lakhs of migrant workers are returning home on foot, trucks, buses and trains, political opponents have referred to an old video of Gorakhpur MP and actor Ravi Kishan to brand him as anti- labour and anti-poor.
Alleging a conspiracy, the MP has said the video dates back to 2017 and added that his remarks were misconstrued.
In the video shot inside a moving car, the actor is apparently heard rebuking fellow party workers for getting him to travel in an overcrowded car and forcing him ‘to smell the odour emanating from sweat’.
“Paseena itna mahakta hai na. Ab kya kaha jaye. (Sweat gives off an odour. What can one say!),” the actor is heard saying as he shouts at the person filming the video, asking him to turn off the camera.
It’s not clear from the video if Ravi Kishan was referring to the sweat of migrant labourers. Nevertheless, the opposition parties have linked his statement to migrant workers, branding him as anti-labourer and anti-poor. “Ravi Kishan is an actor who lives in luxury. He dislikes the sweat of poor migrants who play an important role in building India,” Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Prahlad Yadav said.
Reacting to the controversy, Congress district general secretary Anwar Hussain said, “Honourable MP, it’s disheartening that you are mocking blood and sweat of labourers, who form the base of the Indian economy.”
Ravi Kishan had won the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat in 2019, defeating his nearest rival Rambhual Nishad of the Samajwadi Party by a margin of over three lakh votes.
Following criticism on the social media, Ravi Kishan gave a clarification and posted a video from Mumbai.
“Nowadays, a video against me is going viral under a conspiracy by opposition people who are frustrated with the good work of the BJP government. The video is old, dates back to the 2017 UP election,” the MP said, hitting back at his opponents for misconstruing his statement.” “They don’t understand Bhojpuri well. By ‘mahak’, I meant fragrance, not odour. People who know Ravi Kishan knows how much I respect the poor and what I have done for them. I myself reached this place after a lot of struggle and thus know the value of the sweat of labour,” he said.