A man in worn and tattered clothes walked through Ghatkopar, asking strangers for money and food, before approaching a street vendor for a samosa. The vendor gave him food without charging him. What he did not know was that the man was not a real beggar.
It was BJP MLA Parag Shah, who had used make-up to disguise himself and has declared assets worth more than Rs 3,383 crore.
Shah, the BJP MLA from Ghatkopar East, spent several hours disguised as a beggar as part of an exercise suggested by Jain spiritual guru Namramuni. He left behind his security, vehicles and expensive belongings and used make-up and old clothes so people would not recognise him. Shah walked around his constituency, sought alms and accepted food from people he met. One encounter stayed with Shah. The hawker gave him food without asking for payment. He described what happened when he approached people who would normally know him as an elected representative. “All the respect and honour, the people who line up to meet you — the same people, when I go to them, become taller than me.
Because the vendor was a small street hawker who still chose to give food to a stranger who appeared unable to pay, shah said the gesture mattered to him. One person handed him Rs 20 and told him, “Go baba, eat food.
Reports said even members of his family and his security guard failed to recognise him in the disguise. He approached a samosa seller and said he had no money. “I saw one thing, Mumbai city is such that people here are always ready to help one another,” Shah said while recounting the experience. Other accounts of Shah’s outing said he was also given dal, rice and water. The MLA said being unrecognised also changed the way people interacted with him. So, that is the reality of life,” Shah said.
After the exercise, Shah removed his make-up and returned to some of the places he had visited. The episode drew attention after videos of Shah in disguise circulated online. His declared wealth also became a major talking point. Shah is a businessman and two-term BJP MLA from Ghatkopar East.
Shah declared assets worth Rs 3,383.06 crore in his affidavit for the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election. ADR data shows that he had Rs 3,315.52 crore in movable assets and Rs 67.53 crore in immovable assets, along with liabilities of Rs 37.9 lakh. His declared assets were about Rs 500.62 crore in the 2019 Maharashtra election. A 2025 ADR report on sitting MLAs listed Shah as the country’s richest MLA by declared assets. He was re-elected from the Mumbai constituency in 2024.
This time, he went as himself and met some of the people he had encountered earlier.
