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Chaos in Bangladesh provides opportunity to right-wing social media to spread misinformation regarding Hindus, temples being attacked in the country

False news regarding rape of Hindu women, arson of Hindu temples being spread, fact-checkers take to busting these false narratives, sharing videos of students protecting temples in Bangladesh

Image: AFP

Yesterday, on August 5, in a significant turn of events, Bangladesh saw a turn in their government with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigning and leaving the country on Monday in the afternoon and Army chief Waker uz Zaman stating that an interim government will take over the power. The ex-prime minister had left the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on a helicopter with her sister, and landed at Hindon Air Base in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad in a C-130 transport aircraft. On the morning for August 6, at 9 am, she has now left for her next destination.

It is to be noted that Hasina’s decision was prompted by the weeks-long protest against 30% reservations to select groups in government jobs and educational institutions. After this decision for reservation was made public, protestors took to the streets to question the quota of reservation being granted to the third generation of freedom fighters, and demanding a total merit-based recruitment. While the protests had begun peacefully in June against the quota system, the student-led movement later turned into a people’s movement. This escalated to a protest to oust Sheikh Hasina, who won for the fourth time in the January elections. The protests against the dictatorial government saw violence as brute force was used by the police against protestors, leading to the deaths of dozens of people. Over 100 people died over the weekend prior to the resignation of ex-PM Hasina. The weekend also saw the Bangladesh government ordering a complete internet shutdown as protestors asked the general public to join a “Long March to Dhaka”. A nationwide curfew had also been imposed indefinitely. However, around 1:15 pm on Monday, a government agency gave a verbal order to start broadband internet.

Soon after Hasina left the country, jubilant crowds waved flags and danced in front of cameras. Videos showing tens of thousands of people surrounding government offices and residences in the capital Dhaka started coming up on social media. People could be seen entering the official residence of ex-PM Hasina and stealing things from her house, which included fishes, utensils, clothes, etc. However, the celebratory protests also took a turn for the worst as videos of people vandalising an imposing statue of Hasina’s father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in Dhaka, attacking the head with an axe also emerged.

Chaos in the neighbouring Bangladesh had a ripple effect in India as well. As more and more social media images and videos of the protest started coming out, certain social media accounts, known for making inflammatory comments and spreading false claims, started spreading misinformation regarding the Bangladeshi Hindus being attacked by the Muslims in Bangladesh. Claims of the minority population of Hindus being physically attacked and facing sexual violence went viral, along with allegation of temples and Hindu structures being burnt by mobs. However, most of these claims were false and were being spread by fake-news peddlers to create disharmony in India and showcase that the Bangladeshi Hindus were being targeted by the Muslims. Twisting the events into Hindu-Muslim communal agenda has the potential of creating a false narrative, leading to a law-and-order situation between the Hindu and Muslim population in India.

While it is understandable that the unpredictable situation prevailing in Bangladesh as well as the history of violence against minorities in the country would lead to people being apprehensive regarding the safety of Hindus and Christians, the false sense of panic that is being created through propaganda is only contributing to the chaos. However, to counter the misinformation being aired by these certain right-wing social media accounts with the aim of creating panic, a different section also took up the task of correcting ad clarifying these narratives. Mohammed Zubair, a fact-checker with Alt News, has been continuously analysing these false posts and fact-checking these posts.

False narratives and myth busting:

It is essential to note that since yesterday evening, the hashtag of #AllEyesOnBangladeshiHindus had been trending on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). Even political leaders fanned these misleading narratives and delivered inciteful and violent hate speeches. Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nitesh Rane, who is a habitual hate offender and spreads his divisive ideology, took up this chance to encourage violence. Taking to X, Rane wrote “If Hindus are targeted and killed in Bangladesh, why should we allow even one Bangladeshi to breathe here. Hum bhi chun chun ke marenge.” (We will also kill each of them selectively)”

https://x.com/NiteshNRane/status/1820527693206892574?t=Pq8anhxMzlofvYKKgsyoCQ&s=08

A series of misleading posts were also put out by the social media account of “Mr. Sinha” through which he had posted unverified videos to directly inflame the situation through fake news, exaggerations, and claims of an imminent genocide on the back of the Hindus in Bangladesh.

Multiple such posts were then fact-checked by Zubair. In one such post, Zubair provided how an old video of a sexual assault case in Bengaluru city involving Bangladeshis was now being shared with a communal claim that Hindu girls are being raped in Bangladesh.

 

Zubair also fact-checked the claims made by other right-wing groups that had provided that a temple had been set of fire by a mob in Bangladesh. Correcting the same, Zubair stated that only a shop in front of the temple in Moulvibazar Kali Bari was set on fire and the temple had remained safe.

Another lie was making rounds on social media, wherein it had been stated that the house of a Bangladeshi Hindu cricketer Liton Das had been set on fire. However, Zubair had clairifed that the house of Mashrafe Mortaza was the one that was set on fire and the news about Das’s house was being wrongly shared to give a communal colour to the incidents.

Other ‘X’ users also fact-checked posts that were spreading misinformation.

Calls for maintaining harmony and protecting minority Hindus reverberate Bangladesh:

Videos showing Muslims in Bangladesh raising calls for protecting the minorities in the country also emerged on social media. In a video shared by Zubair, a Muslim man can be seen and heard making announcement to maintain communal harmony on a loudspeaker from inside the Mosque in Bangladesh. The man can be heard saying “Dear Citizens, we ‘Students Against Discrimination’ are requesting you, during this period of unrest in the country, we all must maintain communal harmony. We should protect Hindu minorities. Protect their lives and their wealth from miscreants/evil forces. It is your responsibility, our responsibility, and everyone’s responsibility. Let’s all be vigilant.”

 

Zubair also shared pictures of the Muslim community members standing vigil outside Hindu temples to ensure that no miscreant takes advantage of the situation and creates communal disharmony.

 

The hashtag #HindusAreSafeInBangladesh has also been trending on ‘X’.

 

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