Within hours of the student-led uprising that ousted Sheikh Hasina, several Indian media began reporting that members of the Hindu minority community in Bangladesh were being targeted by “Islamist forces”. Articles and videos containing misleading content are published across Indian media and social media platforms.
‘Attack on Hindu in Bangladesh?’ on Mirror Now’s YouTube channel owned by The Times Group. A video titled ‘Mass Murders, Killings by Mob’ was shown. Footage of violence and arson in four houses was shown there. Out of which two are identified as Muslim owned. The title of the video is clearly misleading, as no massacre was reported in the incident.
The video also made unsubstantiated claims, such as ’24 people were burnt alive by the mob’ and ‘minorities at the center of the attack’.
According to Al-Jazeera verified data, only two Hindus have been killed since Hasina’s ouster on Monday – a police officer and an activist of Hasina’s Awami League.
Hindus make up about 8 percent of Bangladesh’s 170 million people and have traditionally been strong supporters of the Awami League. Compared to opposition parties in Bangladesh, Awami League is considered a secular party. However, they also have Islamist parties in their alliance.
A Times of India report quoted senior leader of Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Subvendu Adhikari as saying, “Many news reports on attacks on Hindus have made outlandish claims, such as ‘more than a crore refugees could enter West Bengal soon’.”
ANI, a news agency close to the Modi government, quoted an Indian student leader as saying, “This mass uprising is planned by the enemies of Bangladesh”.
According to a report of the Times of India, “Jamaate-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh, has brought down the government of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh”.
What is the reality on the ground?
These Indian media reports and social media posts are contrary to the reality of the current events in Bangladesh. These conflict with the news published in the local media.
According to the local media of Bangladesh, several houses of 20 Hindu families in 64 districts of the country have been attacked and looted since Monday night.
Al-Jazeera contacted several sources in these districts to learn that the attacks on Hindu homes were not motivated by religious identity, but by political affiliation.
Mostafizur Rahman Hiru of central Narsingdi told Al-Jazeera that the two Hindu families targeted in his village are home to local Awami League leaders. When Awami League was in power, people were angry that these Hindu leaders were persecuting others. Now with the fall of Hasina, they are facing negative reactions.
A warehouse and house of Awami League’s local government chairman Babul Saha were attacked in Jessore, a district bordering India. Abdur Rab Haider, a resident of Jessore, told Al-Jazeera that no Hindu house was attacked without links to the Awami League.
Rahman noted that Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajib Wazed Joy, who lives in the US, has given several interviews to the Indian media, spreading rumors and unverified claims about attacks on Hindus and alleged ISI operations. The Indian media jumped on it with glee and propagated false claims of victory.
