• Source: Anti-Bangladeshi disinformation in India

      • Following the Student–People's uprising which ousted Bangladesh's longtime authoritarian Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a strong ally of India, the Indian media outlets, along with India-based social media accounts, began disseminating disinformation against Bangladesh with an intent to destabilise the country. The themes include misleading or exaggerated reports on the post-resignation violence against Bangladesh's Hindu community, discrediting the backgrounds or activities of the cabinet members of interim government of Bangladesh. Sensationalist media outlets, especially those closely associated with the ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party, attempted to portray the uprising as an Islamist-backed military takeover of the country purportedly orchestrated by India's rivals, Pakistan (through its intelligence agency) & China.


      Background


      In the aftermath of the full-fledged mass uprising on 5 August 2024, Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and exile to India, while an interim government led by the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed office. Hasina had long been a strong ally of India and was alleged many times for working for Indian interests in Bangladesh, often at the cost of Bangladesh's sovereignty. Soon after Hasina's departure, diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and India began to deteriorate.


      Disinformation




      = Violence against Hindus

      =
      Following the departure of Sheikh Hasina, Indian media outlets, quoting BJP leader and leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, falsely claimed that over 10 million Bangladeshi Hindus are fleeing to India for refuge, claiming that Bangladesh is turning into an "Islamic State".
      A false report also claimed that the house of Bangladeshi cricketer Liton Das was set on fire, which was later debunked. Das himself refuted the claim in a Facebook post. Several television news outlets also ran headlines falsely claiming that the violence constituted an "act of genocide" and a "pogrom", while an alleged arson attack on a Hindu temple was later found to have occurred at an adjacent Awami League office.
      Numerous India-based social media accounts circulated several misleading videos and images about attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus, using hashtags such as AllEyesOnBangladeshiHindus and SaveBangladeshiHindus, which were subsequently debunked by several fact-checking organisations.


      Scripted interviews


      Indian media reporters were seen confiscating the passports of Bangladeshi Hindus travelling to India and forcing them to give false interviews on the "alleged Hindu persecution in Bangladesh". The situation came into notice when Shuvo Karmakar from Faridpur District gave a false interview to ABP Ananda about attacks on Hindus living in his hometown. As journalists visited the place to fact-check, the residents described the allegations to be false while his parents said that Karmakar's passport was confiscated by Indian reporters as soon as he entered India through the Petrapole border. Karmakar was then forced to give a scripted interview with false accounts of attacks on Hindus.


      = Reports on interim government

      =
      On 11 September 2024, Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, an editor of the Indian newspaper The Economic Times, published a false report stating that Mahfuz Alam, an adviser to the Yunus government, is a former member of the outlawed Islamist organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir. Alam later addressed the issue on his verified Facebook page, stating that he has never been affiliated with the organisation and has consistently opposed its ideology. He also characterised the report as a "smear campaign" by the Indian media.
      Republic Bangla produced a fake news on 6 November 2024, where the news anchor was seen claiming that the chief adviser Muhammad Yunus has fled to France following Donald Trump's reelection as the president of the United States in 2024. The anchor was then joined by the channel's senior editor Anirban Sinha, who corroborated the false claim, stating that Yunus had left the country and now staying in Paris.


      = Murder of Saiful Islam Alif

      =

      In November 2024, following the murder of Saiful Islam Alif, a lawyer, in Chittagong, several Indian media outlets, including FirstPost, The Economic Times, Republic World and OpIndia, published fabricated reports claiming that Alif was the lawyer of Chinmoy Krishna Das, a Hindu leader who was arrested on sedition charges. Indian media outlets also falsely claimed that Alif was shot dead by the police. However, reports indicated that Alif was in fact killed by the followers of Das.


      Analysis


      Analysts Farid Erkizia Bakht and Siddharth Varadarajan suggested that India's intent to destabilise Bangladesh through these disinformation campaigns stems from the disappointment of losing a valuable ally like Sheikh Hasina and from apprehensions about the new government in the country harbouring anti-Indian sentiments. According to Bangladeshi political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman, Indian media viewed the mass uprising against the Hasina-government in Bangladesh through "their Islamophobic eye", despite the view in Bangladesh that it was a popular movement. Jon Danilowicz, a retired American diplomat, described the situation as India "stubbornly doubling down on its failed Bangladesh policy", adding that charges like the Yunus-led government being "an Islamist regime" or the "genocide against the Hindu minority" in Bangladesh to be "ridiculously untrue".
      BBC News, Deutsche Welle, France 24 and some fаct-checking websites highlighted several rumours circulated on X and other social medias. BBC Verify has highlighted some false information circulating on social media that has been exaggerated or is unrelated to the actual incident.
      According to an investigation by Rumor Scanner, an independent fact-checking organisation, at least 49 Indian media outlets are involved in producing false reports against Bangladesh since 12 August 2024. This includes Hindustan Times, Zee News, Live Mint, Republic, India Today, ABP Ananda, Aaj Tak, ANI, NDTV, WION etc., while Republic Bangla leads the list publishing the highest number of fake news reports.


      References

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