New Delhi: Actor Imran Khan’s participation in a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was followed by a Mumbai Police directive asking him to leave India, sparking debate online.
Author Aatish Taseer has drawn parallels with his own case, saying he has been unable to return to India and see his family for the past six years after the government revoked his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status in 2019.
“This vicious, discredited BJP government is determined to exact a personal cost for public protest,” Taseer wrote in an Instagram post.
Taseer shared a collage featuring the two cases: Khan’s recent detention and a 2019 Guardian report headlined “India strips overseas citizenship from journalist who criticised Modi regime,” referring to the author’s own case.
Taseer draws parallels with his own case
Taseer, who previously held an OCI card, had his status revoked by the Indian government in 2019. The Union Home Ministry cited his alleged concealment of the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin, arguing that this made him ineligible for OCI status.
“Either they prevent you from leaving the country, or they prevent you from returning. I haven’t been able to see my family for six years,” Taseer wrote further in the Instagram post.
Drawing a comparison with Khan’s case, he said the authorities were “literally breaking up his family by ordering him to leave the country”.
He added that he supported the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and those he said had been punished by an “authoritarian Prime Minister who is everyday more insecure”.
Mumbai Police asks Imran Khan to leave India
On Thursday, the Mumbai Police directed Khan to leave India by 28 October. According to a police official quoted by PTI, the action was taken because Khan is a foreign national who participated in a political protest.
“Imran Khan holds foreign citizenship and is not an Indian national. Under relevant provisions of the Foreigners/Immigration Act, foreign nationals are prohibited from participating in political protests or political activities on Indian soil,” the official said, adding that a formal notice directing the actor to leave the country by 28 October had been served on him.
Kiran Rao, Saba Azad criticise action
The police action against Khan also drew criticism from filmmaker Kiran Rao and actor Saba Azad.
“43 years old. 40 of those years in India. Studied here. Worked here. Succeeded here. Failed here. Loved here. Fought here,” Rao wrote in an Instagram story.
Azad also shared a news report about Khan being asked to leave India on her Instagram story, writing, “What? This is absolute BS.”
(Edited by Maryam Hassan)