Journalism of Courage
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused TMC of violating model code of conduct after Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed was seen campaigning for TMC’s Raiganj Lok Sabha candidate Kanhaiya Lal Agarwal in North Dinajpur district Sunday.
The campaign triggered controversy and BJP questioned the presence of a foreign national in political campaign.
Ferdous took part in a road show along with other Tollywood actors in Raiganj Hemtabad, Karandighi and Islampur.
BJP alleged that it is a violation of the model code of conduct as the TMC is trying to woo the minorities which will play a decisive role in North Dinajpur. “It is illegal. We want action against Trinamool and have moved to the Election Commission,” said BJP leader Pratap Banerjee.
“How can a foreign national (Ferdous) campaign for TMC. Tomorrow, they will invite Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to campaign for the TMC. We condemn this, as a Bangladeshi film star should not be a part of India’s biggest democratic festival. The TMC is scared of us and hence bringing foreign actors here,” said state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.
BJP has also submitted a complaint to the EC to look into the matter. When the Commission was approached, an official, on condition of anonymity, said, “Nothing specific is mentioned in the code of conduct about foreign national.”
TMC said there was nothing wrong in it as anyone can campaign for any political party.
“We are a law abiding political party and will not do anything that violates Model Code of Conduct. If they say we were trying to woo minorities, then I would like to question who they were targeting by taking out rallies with arms in Ram Navami procession,” said a TMC leader.
