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Within hours of Sheikh Hasina’s removal from power after a student-led mass uprising, reports began to appear in some Indian media outlets that members of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh were being targeted by “Islamist forces”.
Articles and videos containing misleading content emerged across Indian media and social media platforms.
A video on The Times Group-owned Mirror Now’s YouTube channel, titled Attack on Hindus in Bangladesh? Mass Murders, Killings by Mob, shows footage of violence and arson attacks on four houses, two of them have been identified to be owned by Muslims. The title of the video is clearly misleading as there was no mass murders reported in the incident. Local reports say one of the houses belonged to Bangladesh’s freedom icon Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The video also makes unsubstantiated claims, like “24 burnt alive by mob” and “Minorities at the centre of attacks”.
Al Jazeera has independently verified that only two Hindus have been killed since Hasina’s ouster on Monday – one police officer and one activist with Hasina’s Awami League party.
Hindus constitute about 8 percent of Bangladesh’s 170 million people and have traditionally been strong supporters of the Awami League, which is generally viewed as secular compared with the opposition coalition, which includes an Islamist party.
Many news reports of attacks on Hindus contain outlandish claims such as “more than one crore [10 million] refugees are likely to enter West Bengal soon”, which was made in a Times of India report that quoted Suvendu Adhikari, a senior leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The ANI news agency, seen close to Modi’s government, quoted a student leader in India as saying the mass uprising was “orchestrated by the enemies of Bangladesh”.
An even more bizarre Times of India article stated that Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s biggest Islamist party, “brought down Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh”.
olitical analyst Zahed Ur Rahman said Indian media have reported through an “Islamophobic” lens.
“The student movement that fomented the mass uprising involving people from all walks of life is unanimously understood as a popular movement here in Bangladesh. But Indian media somehow have been interpreting the whole scenario through their Islamophobic eye,” he told Al Jazeera.
ISI and religious claims
As Hasina fled the country on Monday, news articles in Indian media alleged that Bangladesh’s protests were influenced by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a Pakistani spy agency, because it is seeking to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state with the support of political parties like the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its former political ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
Some media outlets even urged the Indian government to prepare for a potential refugee crisis, speculating that Hindus would be driven out of Bangladesh.
Speculation suggesting an ISI and Chinese connection to the popular Bangladesh movement was a common thread in social media posts by some commentators and media outlets.
The diplomatic affairs editor of The Economic Times, Dipanjan R Chaudhury, posted on X: “Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh politics doesn’t bode well either for country or India. Jamaat track record of promoting cross border terror … is part of recent history.”
Indian Media
The television channel TV9 Gujarati with one million followers on X characterised the uprising as a “coup”, stating on the social media platform: “Is ISI behind the coup attack in Bangladesh? Is Jamaat-E-Islam behind the violent attacks?”
What is the reality on the ground?
These articles by Indian media and posts in social media contrast sharply with factual reports chronicling the events that led to the Hasina’s resignation. She fled to India, which had backed her.
Local media in Bangladesh reported that since Monday night, several Hindu households across 20 of the country’s 64 districts have been attacked and looted.
Al Jazeera reached out to sources in some of these districts and discovered that the attacks on Hindu households were not driven by religious identity but by political affiliations.
Mustafizur Rahman Hiru, a rent-a-car driver from the central district of Narsingdi, told Al Jazeera that in his village, the two Hindu households targeted were home to local Awami League leaders.
“People were angry because these Hindu leaders were bullying others when the Awami League was in power. Now, with Hasina’s fall, they are facing the backlash,” he said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Gobindra Chandra Pramanik, a leader of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, stated that to his knowledge no Hindu households without connections to the Awami League were attacked.
“As a leader of the Hindu community, I can confirm that these attacks were politically motivated, not communal,” he said. “Across the country, 10 times more Muslim households affiliated with the Awami League were attacked.”
Local media reported that since Monday night, more than 119 people – primarily Awami League leaders, activists and police – were killed in mob violence. Qadaruddin Shishir, the fact-checking editor for the AFP news agency, told Al Jazeera that only two of the victims were Hindus: one policeman and one Awami League activist.
Zafar Sobhan, editor of Bangladesh’s Dhaka Tribune newspaper, told Al Jazeera that most of the Indian media “as a general rule is clueless about Bangladesh”.
“I don’t like to attribute to malice that which just as easily can be explained by incompetence. But the uniformity of the misinformation that is routinely peddled in the Indian media suggests that they are taking dictation from a common source,” he said.
But an Indian academic rejected any allegation that the Indian media’s reporting has been Islamophobic.
Sreeradha Datta, a professor at OP Jindal University in Sonipat in northern India, told Al Jazeera that the Indian media’s concern about the safety of Hindus under a non-Hasina administration in Bangladesh stems from past experiences rather than Islamophobia.
Datta noted that during previous non-Awami League governments, such as the BNP-Jamaat alliance, “there was an increase in attacks on minorities, and this historical context continues to influence current perceptions.”
The media’s reporting has caused concern in India with several prominent Hindu religious leaders and politicians calling for the protection of Hindus.
Muslims protecting Hindus
Meanwhile, images of individuals, including students from Muslim religious schools, standing watch in front of Hindu temples and homes have been widely circulated on social media.
In Brahmanbaria, a district with one of the largest Hindu populations in Bangladesh, residents, including students, stepped up to protect Hindu households.
Munshi Azizul Haque, an apparel businessman from Brahmanbaria, told Al Jazeera that they are working to prevent any communal violence in the area. “We’ve seen how Indian media are depicting attacks on minorities in Bangladesh on social media. The reality is quite different,” he said.
Pramanik also acknowledged that Hindu temples were being protected.
News of Bangladeshi students, including from religious schools, volunteering to protect Hindu temples have been reported locally since the unrest began, and it has been picked up by outlets like Clarion India and The Wire.
Source: Al Jazeera
www.aljazeera.com
Articles and videos containing misleading content emerged across Indian media and social media platforms.
A video on The Times Group-owned Mirror Now’s YouTube channel, titled Attack on Hindus in Bangladesh? Mass Murders, Killings by Mob, shows footage of violence and arson attacks on four houses, two of them have been identified to be owned by Muslims. The title of the video is clearly misleading as there was no mass murders reported in the incident. Local reports say one of the houses belonged to Bangladesh’s freedom icon Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The video also makes unsubstantiated claims, like “24 burnt alive by mob” and “Minorities at the centre of attacks”.
Al Jazeera has independently verified that only two Hindus have been killed since Hasina’s ouster on Monday – one police officer and one activist with Hasina’s Awami League party.
Hindus constitute about 8 percent of Bangladesh’s 170 million people and have traditionally been strong supporters of the Awami League, which is generally viewed as secular compared with the opposition coalition, which includes an Islamist party.
Many news reports of attacks on Hindus contain outlandish claims such as “more than one crore [10 million] refugees are likely to enter West Bengal soon”, which was made in a Times of India report that quoted Suvendu Adhikari, a senior leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The ANI news agency, seen close to Modi’s government, quoted a student leader in India as saying the mass uprising was “orchestrated by the enemies of Bangladesh”.
An even more bizarre Times of India article stated that Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s biggest Islamist party, “brought down Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh”.
olitical analyst Zahed Ur Rahman said Indian media have reported through an “Islamophobic” lens.
“The student movement that fomented the mass uprising involving people from all walks of life is unanimously understood as a popular movement here in Bangladesh. But Indian media somehow have been interpreting the whole scenario through their Islamophobic eye,” he told Al Jazeera.
ISI and religious claims
As Hasina fled the country on Monday, news articles in Indian media alleged that Bangladesh’s protests were influenced by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a Pakistani spy agency, because it is seeking to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state with the support of political parties like the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its former political ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
Some media outlets even urged the Indian government to prepare for a potential refugee crisis, speculating that Hindus would be driven out of Bangladesh.
Speculation suggesting an ISI and Chinese connection to the popular Bangladesh movement was a common thread in social media posts by some commentators and media outlets.
The diplomatic affairs editor of The Economic Times, Dipanjan R Chaudhury, posted on X: “Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh politics doesn’t bode well either for country or India. Jamaat track record of promoting cross border terror … is part of recent history.”
Indian Media
The television channel TV9 Gujarati with one million followers on X characterised the uprising as a “coup”, stating on the social media platform: “Is ISI behind the coup attack in Bangladesh? Is Jamaat-E-Islam behind the violent attacks?”
What is the reality on the ground?
These articles by Indian media and posts in social media contrast sharply with factual reports chronicling the events that led to the Hasina’s resignation. She fled to India, which had backed her.
Local media in Bangladesh reported that since Monday night, several Hindu households across 20 of the country’s 64 districts have been attacked and looted.
Al Jazeera reached out to sources in some of these districts and discovered that the attacks on Hindu households were not driven by religious identity but by political affiliations.
Mustafizur Rahman Hiru, a rent-a-car driver from the central district of Narsingdi, told Al Jazeera that in his village, the two Hindu households targeted were home to local Awami League leaders.
“People were angry because these Hindu leaders were bullying others when the Awami League was in power. Now, with Hasina’s fall, they are facing the backlash,” he said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Gobindra Chandra Pramanik, a leader of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, stated that to his knowledge no Hindu households without connections to the Awami League were attacked.
“As a leader of the Hindu community, I can confirm that these attacks were politically motivated, not communal,” he said. “Across the country, 10 times more Muslim households affiliated with the Awami League were attacked.”
Local media reported that since Monday night, more than 119 people – primarily Awami League leaders, activists and police – were killed in mob violence. Qadaruddin Shishir, the fact-checking editor for the AFP news agency, told Al Jazeera that only two of the victims were Hindus: one policeman and one Awami League activist.
Zafar Sobhan, editor of Bangladesh’s Dhaka Tribune newspaper, told Al Jazeera that most of the Indian media “as a general rule is clueless about Bangladesh”.
“I don’t like to attribute to malice that which just as easily can be explained by incompetence. But the uniformity of the misinformation that is routinely peddled in the Indian media suggests that they are taking dictation from a common source,” he said.
But an Indian academic rejected any allegation that the Indian media’s reporting has been Islamophobic.
Sreeradha Datta, a professor at OP Jindal University in Sonipat in northern India, told Al Jazeera that the Indian media’s concern about the safety of Hindus under a non-Hasina administration in Bangladesh stems from past experiences rather than Islamophobia.
Datta noted that during previous non-Awami League governments, such as the BNP-Jamaat alliance, “there was an increase in attacks on minorities, and this historical context continues to influence current perceptions.”
The media’s reporting has caused concern in India with several prominent Hindu religious leaders and politicians calling for the protection of Hindus.
Muslims protecting Hindus
Meanwhile, images of individuals, including students from Muslim religious schools, standing watch in front of Hindu temples and homes have been widely circulated on social media.
In Brahmanbaria, a district with one of the largest Hindu populations in Bangladesh, residents, including students, stepped up to protect Hindu households.
Munshi Azizul Haque, an apparel businessman from Brahmanbaria, told Al Jazeera that they are working to prevent any communal violence in the area. “We’ve seen how Indian media are depicting attacks on minorities in Bangladesh on social media. The reality is quite different,” he said.
Pramanik also acknowledged that Hindu temples were being protected.
News of Bangladeshi students, including from religious schools, volunteering to protect Hindu temples have been reported locally since the unrest began, and it has been picked up by outlets like Clarion India and The Wire.
Source: Al Jazeera
‘Islamophobic, alarmist’: How some India outlets covered Bangladesh crisis
India media make claims linking China and Pakistan intelligence to protests and exaggerate scale of attacks on Hindus.
