India blacklists actor Ferdous for joining polls campaign
India has blacklisted Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed after cancelling his visa for joining election campaign of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party.
The Indian government ordered the actor to leave the country after receiving report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations, the Hindustan Times reported citing a statement from the union home ministry on Tuesday.
Ferdous already left the country and returned home, according to The India Today.
bdnews24.com could not reach him on his phone on Tuesday as it was switched off.
On Monday, the actor said he had gone to India for a shoot and taken part in the campaign “on a producer’s request”.
Opposition parties in West Bengal had protested the appearance of Ferdous at a Trinamool road show and election rally in Raiganj, north Bengal, on Tuesday, the Hindustan Times said.
The parties also demanded the cancellation of the candidature of Kanaia Lal Agarwal, the ruling party’s candidate from that constituency.
“The Election Commission of India must find out what reason Ferdous had cited in his application for a visa. Can a foreign national campaign for a candidate in India?” the newspaper quoted BJP state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar as saying.
