Amidst the violence that followed Sheikh Hasina’s resignation as Prime Minister of Bangladesh, several fake posts were circulated on social media claiming that mass persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh had begun.
On the other hand, the Indian government has formed a special committee to ensure the safety of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and Indians living there. Again, the government of Bangladesh wants to start a hotline for the safety of religious minorities from Sunday.
However, fact-checkers have confirmed that most of the fake posts circulating on social media about ‘massive persecution’ of Hindus in Bangladesh were posted by various Indian accounts.
But such rumors were also spread from inside Bangladesh through social media, say fact-checkers.
They are also saying that definitely there have been some attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, houses have been set on fire. But while verifying the information, it was found that the houses of Muslims were also vandalized and set on fire.
In this case, the targets of the attackers were the houses and properties of Awami League leaders and workers. Religious identity was mostly secondary, they were attacked for their political identity.
Local Awami League leaders and activists who fled from Bangladesh and came to India or are trying to come to India also confirmed that the houses of Awami League leaders and activists of both Hindu and Muslim communities were attacked.
But several fact checkers feel that social media from India has given the issue a communal color instead of keeping it political.
The BBC’s fact-checking arm, ‘BBC Verify’, came to the same conclusion.
Moinul guards the temple
A protester in Chittagong saw some of the posts that went viral saying that the Hindu temple had been attacked. of Moinul.
He was guarding the ‘Sri Sri Sita Kali Mata Mandir’ near Chittagong when he was contacted by the BBC’s information verification department ‘BBC Verify’.
Sheikh Hasina fled the country several hours before that.
Mr. Moinul was saying, “It is our responsibility to protect them. We will protect all government buildings, temples, churches – everything.”
In his words, the posts that are spreading, but “do not match the real picture we see with our eyes. All those posts are portraying a wrong picture of Bangladesh in front of the world.”
When Sheikh Hasina fled the country after mass torture and killings of protesters, it was not surprising that protesters and opposition party members became enraged.
On the other hand, there were no police in the whole of Bangladesh due to attacks on police stations. It was at this time that the former ruling party Awami League ransacked the houses of the leaders and workers, violence started.
But in reality, it has been seen that even the houses of ordinary citizens are looted, some of them have also been victims of violence.
‘BBC Verify’ believes that the widespread violence created fear in the minds of the minority Hindu community.
Fake news spread from India
While there was chaos all around, India’s ultra-southern ‘influencers’ took the opportunity to share misleading videos, making it appear that Bangladeshi Hindus were being persecuted.
Rumors were also spread that the student-protesters were ‘Islamic hardliners’.
‘Brandwatch’ app monitors social media. They found that since August 4, fake stories have been spread with a hashtag that has been mentioned seven lakh times on social media ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).
Almost all of the accounts from which the trending posts were made are located in India, Brandwatch has also learned.
Bangladesh-based fact-checkers also analyzed the social media for the past few days and found similar information that fake information about attacks on Hindus has been spread mainly from various accounts in India.
Professor Suman Rahman, head of ‘Fact Watch’, an independent fact-checking initiative approved by the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh or ULAB, said, “There have indeed been incidents where Hindu homes have been attacked. But in almost all cases those people are people associated with Awami League.”
“But a narrative has been created to make it seem like communal riots are happening in Bangladesh. This is a completely wrong narrative. Most of the accounts from which this fake information is being spread are from India,” he said.
Again Ridwanul Islam, the fact checker of Dhaka’s ‘Dainik Ajker Patrika’, said that most of the fake information was spread from Indian accounts.
“However, we have come to know from our investigation that false information about attacks on Hindus has been spread from within Bangladesh as well.”
Fake news of Hindu houses, temples being ‘burned’
A post went viral on social media, claiming that the house of ‘Hindu cricketer’ Liton Das was burnt down.
Many other accounts shared the post saying that radical Islamists had set his house on fire.
But it is now known to everyone that the house that was burnt down is actually the former captain of the Bangladesh national team, Mashrafe Bin Murtarzar.
Another viral post claimed that ‘Islamic mobs from Bangladesh’ had attacked a temple.
A video of setting fire near Chittagong’s ‘Navagraha Mandir’ was circulated. However, it was clear that the temple did not catch fire.
Photos obtained by BBC Verify show that the temple was not damaged. However, an Awami League office behind the temple seems to have been the real target.
Temple official Swapan Das told BBC that chairs and tables were taken from the party office and set on fire at the back of the temple. This incident is on the afternoon of August 5th.
A few pictures of the aftermath of the fire show that several posters with photos of Awami League leaders were also burnt.
Mr. Das also said that people are guarding the temple 24 hours a day.
image source,Getty Images
The target is Awami League, not Hindus
Two more viral posts were seen with misleading information claiming that Hindus were attacked. But it has been verified that those who were attacked are actually leaders of Awami League and they are Muslims.
These posts are spread from Indian right-wing accounts. Later they were shared with the hashtag ‘SaveBangladeshiHindu’ from the ‘verified’ accounts of Hindutva.
Another video went viral recently, claiming that ‘Islamic mobs’ attacked Hindu villages and a Hindu devotee tried to escape by swimming in a pond. Indian fact-checkers found out that the man was a Muslim.
Prof Suman Rahman, head of Ulab’s ‘Fact-Watch’, said, “Recently, the story of the kidnapping of two women spread on social media. One of these incidents is from Dhaka, the other from Noakhali. The incident in Dhaka is that a student was doing traffic duty on the road for a long time. His parents forcibly took him home.”
Professor Rahman said, “That video said that the student was kidnapped. And in the case of Noakhali, the woman who is said to have been kidnapped for ‘gang-rape’, the real story is that the Hindu woman was separated from her ex-husband and was living with her parents.
But her husband took the woman with some friends. It was run as ‘kidnapping of Hindu women for gang-rape’,” said Mr. Rahman
In the words of Ridwanul Islam, the fact-checker of Dainik Ajker newspaper, “It is not only the social media that have spread the rumours. Some TV channels and portals have even made news reports based on those social media rumours.”
The few TV channels and portals he named are all known Hindutva news media.
The BBC has also learned that not only India or Bangladesh, but also a well-known far-right influencer in the UK has spread such rumours.
The influencer named Tommy Robinson posted unverified videos and wrote that there is a ‘genocide of Hindus’ in Bangladesh.
image source,BSF
The measures taken by the two governments
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has formed a committee to look after the security of Indian citizens, Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh in view of the widespread attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh.
The committee has been headed by BSF Eastern Regional Chief, Additional Director General Ravi Gandhi. The other members are two IGs of the BSF’s South Bengal and Tripura border regions and two representatives of the Land Port Authority.
Amit Shah wrote in X-Handle, “The Government of India formed a special committee to ensure the safety of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and Indians living there.
“This committee will liaise with the authorities in Bangladesh to ensure the safety of Indian nationals, Hindus and other minorities living there. The ADG of BSF’s Eastern Command will head this committee,” wrote Amit Shah.
A member of that committee told the BBC, “If we get news like what the Home Minister has written in a tweet that there is a problem in Bangladesh, we will contact our counterpart in that country, i.e. the BGB, and work to solve the problem. Such a problem arose in Cooch Behar’s Shitalkhuchi on Friday. On the Bangladesh side, many people gathered on the other side of the border seeking to enter India. We quickly contacted the BGB and arranged for them to be taken back. But no one gathered like this on Saturday.”
However, even though this kind of news was circulated in the Indian media, it could not be confirmed from Bangladesh.
In some videos posted from the Indian side, it can be seen that some people have gathered across the border. But there were no women or children among them.
And something like a bag is seen near those people. It was not confirmed whether they had gathered to cross the border.
The interim government of Bangladesh is also launching a hotline from Sunday to help Hindus.
AFM Khalid Hossain, Advisor to the Interim Government’s Ministry of Religion, said this in a press conference on Saturday.
He said, if there is any attack or violence against the minorities, if they report it to the hotline, they will take action through the law enforcement agencies.
“There are reports of attacks on the houses and places of worship of religious minorities,” said Mr. Hussain said, “attempts are being made to destabilize the government and destroy religious harmony”.
“Rumors have also been added to it,” he added.
The adviser said the government wants to maintain religious harmony and harmony at any cost.
‘We will not step into the trap’
Outside Chittagong’s Sri Sri Sita Kali Mata Mandir, Muslim and Hindu students were talking about harmony, about the future.
“The purpose of spreading these rumors is to create a chaos, to create conflict between Hindus and Muslims,” said Mr. Moinul.
“But we will not fall into the trap,” he said.
Choton, another resident of the area, regularly visits the temple. He was thanking his Muslim classmates.
“Thank them. As long as we can get through this difficult time, let them stay like this.
“May we be able to spend together like this in the future of independent Bangladesh,” said Chhotan.