Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed told to leave India after poll show

KOLKATA: Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed left Kolkata on Tuesday after getting notices from both the union ministry of home affairs and the

Bangladesh

deputy high commission following a controversy over his campaigning for Trinamool Congress Raiganj candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal this Sunday.


The MHA also sought a report from the Bengal government and the local Foreigner Regional Registration Office, prompting an FRRO probe into whether the actor had violated work visa rules. “The MHA has asked the actor to leave India,” a senior FRRO official said. “Ahmed left the country this afternoon,” he added.

Bangladesh deputy high commission officials said the visa allocated to Ahmed did not allow him to participate in political campaigns and so he was asked to leave India. Officials from the deputy high commission called up the actor on Sunday itself to inquire about the issue after reports about his campaigning reached the Kolkata office. Ahmed reportedly replied that he was shooting near Raiganj with co-actors Payel Sarkar and Ankush on Sunday afternoon and “could not turn down the request for campaigning”.

TOI called Ahmed on both his India and Bangladesh cell numbers but there was no response. A colleague, however, expressed surprise that Ahmed had got embroiled in this controversy: “He has been coming to Kolkata to act for over two decades now and has seen many elections (in India). His first release in Kolkata was way back in 1998. He has never been involved in such a controversy.”

The MHA action came a day after state BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar sent a WhatsApp complaint to state chief electoral officer Aariz Aftab along with a 32-second clip of Ahmed’s Sunday campaign for Agarwal. Majumdar asked for a probe and demanded cancellation of Agarwal’s candidature.

Additional CEO Sanjoy Basu acknowledged that a complaint was lodged and the district electoral officer had sent a report. “We are sending the entire report to the Election Commission and have sought its directive. This is a new issue and we need to have clarity,” he added. EC officials indicated that the rule book may not have anything barring foreign nationals from campaigning.

Raiganj Trinamool candidate Agarwal said he had “no knowledge” of Ahmed canvassing for him. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, however, condemned the effort to rope in Ahmed and saw it as an “act of desperation”. BJP national secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed the Trinamool had run out of local actors to canvas for them.

The BJP on Tuesday also complained against another Bangladeshi tele-serial star, Gazi Abdun Noor, for reportedly campaigning for Trinamool Congress’s Dum Dum candidate

Saugata Roy

over the weekend. Noor, a household name in Bengal for acting in the tele-serial Rani Rashmoni, however, denied the allegation.

“I went to meet Trinamool leader Madan Mitra and was travelling in his vehicle. I did not know Roy and met him for the first time that day. I did not utter a word in public. I know I am a Bangladeshi national and should not be part of any poll campaign in a foreign country where I have come to work,” he claimed.