After renowned actor Ferdaus Ahmed, another B a n g l a d e s h I actor Ghazi Abdul Noor who attended a political rally in West Bengal has been asked to leave India immediately, Indian Home Ministry officials said on Thursday. Noor was staying in India despite the expiry of his visa. "Appropriate action is also being taken regarding his overstay in contravention of visa rules," a Home Ministry official said.
Reports suggest that Noor campaigned for West Bengal’s ruling party Trinamool Congress’ candidate Saugata Roy in the Dumdum constituency in Kolkata. The Indian government had on Tuesday issued a 'Leave India' notice to Ferdous Ahmed and canceled the business visa given to him for campaigning for Trinamool Congress in the Raiganj constituency.
The Home Ministry action came after it received a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by the Bangladesh actor. The BJP Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission after a video surfaced showing Noor purportedly campaigning for Roy in the Dumdum constituency in alleged violation of the poll code.
"This act is in violation of the terms of visa and yet another case of a foreigner actively influencing the electoral process. This is a gross violation of the basics of democratic structure," BJP's West Bengal vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said after filing a complaint with the EC.