Raiganj, April 23: A performer out on poll campaign dressed in black from head to toe had to run for his life when more than 500 villagers armed with lathis and spears chased him, allegedly taking him for a terrorist.

Last night, Anwarul Haq, 23, had danced to the beats of Hindi film songs in a village close to the Bangladesh border in North Dinajpur’s Hemtabad. He wore black, sported dark glasses and had a black scarf tied on his head.

This morning, Haq turned up wearing the same outfit to join a panchayat poll campaign of the Socialist Party at Bidisol village.

Haq was nearly lynched by the villagers, before some policemen passing by saved him. He was later arrested “for disturbing the peace”.

Sitting in the Hemtabad police station lock-up, Haq said he was a supporter of the Socialist Party. Outside, hundreds of villagers waited to catch a glimpse of the “terrorist from Bangladesh”.

“I took to dancing five years ago after I failed to get a job even though I had passed Madhyamik. Last night, I performed with a group that I have raised with a few boys and girls from my village, Sonabang (located 8km from Bidisol),” Haq said.

He said the Socialist Party’s local committee secretary, Gopal Barman, had called him up last night and asked him to come to Bidisol for a campaign.

“I did not have a bag so I wore my costume over my T-shirt and jeans and was waiting in front of a tea stall when people started shouting at me and soon a mob was on my heels,” Haq said.

Barman, when contacted, blamed the CPM cadre for inciting the crowd against Haq.