Mystery over Anju Ghosh’s nationality: BJP produces birth certificate from India, actress says she holds Indian voter ID and voted in 2019

On Wednesday, it was reported widely that ‘Bangladeshi’ actress Anju Ghosh had joined the BJP in Kolkata. It was also reported that she refused to answer questions on her citizenship status.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1136262364968263680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Breaking her reported silence over the issue, Anju has now said that she was born in India, has an Indian passport, and she works in both India as Bangladesh.

https://twitter.com/news18dotcom/status/1136454913016205312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Today, state BJP President Dilip Ghosh produced her birth certificate on Twitter to prove that the actress is indeed Indian.

https://twitter.com/DilipGhoshBJP/status/1136528577074061313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The birth certificate, issued by the Health Department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, shows that Anju Ghosh was born at East End Nursing Home in Kolkata. The date of birth is 17th September, 1966 while the date of registration is the 22nd of December, 2003.

Birth certificate of Anju Ghosh

Various news outlets had reported the actress to be Bangladeshi as well.

https://twitter.com/CNNnews18/status/1136261734920884226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/TimesNow/status/1136319269312950273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Politicians and people on social media had used Anju Ghosh’s inclusion in the BJP to target the party as well.

https://twitter.com/salimdotcomrade/status/1136328276639649800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/Nehr_who/status/1136283061417533440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/puntinational/status/1136545517234601984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Speaking to News18, the actress stated that she was born in Bengal and holds an Indian voter ID card. She said that her parents have been staying at Salt Lake for the past three decades and she has even voted in 2019 elections. She said, “I was born in Bengal and worked in Bengali film industry and as well as in Bangladesh. I have an Indian passport and a voter ID card. In this election, I exercised my voting rights. It’s sad to know that people are raising questions over my nationality.”

She added, “I joined the BJP because I want to serve the people. I don’t know why they are now raising questions over my nationality. I am feeling threatened.”

Many artists from West Bengal and Bangladesh work and perform on the other side of the border, as people in both the regions speak the same language, and has the same cultural history as it was a single territory before it was split during the partition at the time of independence. Anju Ghosh has worked in several movies produced in Bangladesh, the most famous among them being 1989 blockbuster Beder Meye Josna, the all time highest grossing movie of Bangladesh.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia