Indian home ministry has asked Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed to leave India after cancelling his visa for violating rules and regulations.
The star campaigner for India's Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal has been blacklisted by the country, reports NDTV on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Indian home ministry had asked for a report from the local Bureau of Immigration after his presence at a Trinamool road-show triggered a controversy.
"He also has been blacklisted. Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," a senior bureaucrat in the country said.
The FRRO is responsible for providing visa services to all foreigners.
The decision could open a new front between Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which rules West Bengal, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government at the centre.
The two sides share an bitter relation that has grown even bitter ahead of the ongoing polls.
According to the Indian officer, granting visas is the right of Government of India and the state has no role in it. "A foreigner can't come to India and campaign for a political party," he added.
The home ministry of India insisted that they are not looking at the case from a political standpoint. It is a matter of rules and regulations, they said.
Reports said that Ferdous Ahmed, who works these days in India's Bengali film industry, campaigned for Trinamool's candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal from Raiganj in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district of India on Sunday.
He was seen along with two other Bengali actors, Ankush Hazra and Payel Sarkar in the area close to the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Ferdous is said to be visiting India on a business visa. The Deputy High Commission for Bangladesh also asked him not to take part in the election campaign in India and return to his country.
