NEW DELHI: BJP MP from Gorakhpur and actor Ravi Kishan Shukla, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada films on the silver screen, on Sunday sought a law to be made in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to curb vulgarity and obscenity in Bhojpuri movies, alleging the regional cinema’s deterioration was disturbing the mental faculities of youth in these states.
The MP wrote a missive to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
“There is a steep decline in the content of Bhojpuri cinema.
This is a matter of grave concern.
There is an adverse effect of this content on the young minds of people in these states.
The BJP lawmaker, who had earlier tabled a private member’s bill in the Parliament on inclusion of Bhojpuri as an official language under the eighth schedule, said that this trend of “tasteless” cinema has become a worrying concern over the last decade or so, while blaming the previous governments of doing little to stop it.
He recalled the contribution of Bhojpuri language and its patrons in cementing India’s freedom struggle and occupying top offices in the country in the past.
“The fame of Bhikhari Thakur and folk singer Mahendra Mishra is known across the country and abroad.
So is the intellect of first President Deshratna Dr.
Rajendra Prasad.
Even Mahatma Gandhi started Satyagraha from Champaran (a Bhojpuri speaking area) The great Rann of Bhojpur, Bankure Babuveer Kunwa, made a supreme sacrifice too.
We need to ensure Bhojpuri language and its culture remains intact,” he said.
Shukla is one of the vocal and prominent Brahmin faces of the BJP in UP.
The party had recently inducted top Rahul Gandhi aide Jitin Prasad, a move that is being seen as an attempt to further consolidate the Brahmin votebank ahead of 2022 assembly polls.
After electing five-time MP Yogi Adityanath, a Thakur caste leader as BJP’s chief minister in UP following a landslide win in 2017 assembly, the party has been making efforts to strike a balance to elevate both Brahmin and non-Yadav OBC party leaders and promote the community in the state and Union cabinets.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party had fielded four prominent Brahmin faces Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Anurag Sharma and Ramapati Tripathi, all of whom had won.