On November 26, several Indian news outlets reported that the lawyer defending a Hindu monk arrested for sedition had been killed in violence outside the Chittagong court. Some outlets claimed that the man had been shot in police firing, while others said he had died in clashes. Even the respected news agency Reuters claimed that the man, Shariful Islam, was the monk’s lawyer.
But as the Bangladeshi fact-checking site Rumour Scanner soon clarified, the man who was killed was not the monk’s lawyer. By claiming that he was, Indian publications were pushing the narrative that Bangladesh was so hostile to Hindus that even the monk’s lawyer had been killed.
This was just one of the 126 pieces of misinformation that Rumor Scanner has debunked between August 12 and December 4, starting a week after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India after her Awami League government was deposed in a mass uprising.
Since then, at least 49 Indian media outlets have disseminated false reports about Bangladesh, the organisation said. Republic Bangla topped the list. Research by Rumor Scanner found that about 72% of social media accounts spreading misinformation against Bangladesh are located in India.
Many Indian media outlets have been portraying Bangladesh as a fundamentalist, Hindu-hating and Taliban-like state, observers say. Many reports and claim that Bangladeshi minorities are being targeted by “Islamist forces” and that a “Hindu genocide” is underway.
“The flow of disinformation in Indian media and on social media platforms is significant,” said Sajjad Hossain Chowdhury, head of operations at Rumor Scanner. “We can only debunk a small percentage of it.”
As some have pointed out, India’s exaggeration of the attacks on minorities across the border serves to shore up the attempts by the country’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to project itself as the protector of Hindus everywhere. It has also been a dogwhistle to direct hate against Muslims in India, implying cynically that Muslims everywhere are hostile to Hindus.
But this misinformation is also having an impact on Bangladesh and its citizens. To begin with, it has created hostility by Indians towards Bangladeshis. This was evident from the mob attack on the Bangladeshi consulate in Agartala. In addition, a boycott of Bangladeshi customers has been announced by some hospitals in Tripura and Kolkata, as well as restaurants and hotels in Tripura,
Others point out that the barrage of misinformation will hurt ties and trade between the neighbours.
“This affects how people think and behave,” said Sumon Rahman, a Bangladeshi fact checker and professor of journalism at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi analysts say that many of these incidents were acts of retribution against members of minority communities who had supported the deposed Awami League. They claim that some other incidents were the result of criminals taking advantage of the period of lawlessness as the administrative machinery collapsed.
Despite this, members of Bangladeshi minority communities have continued to express fears about their safety. Hindus are the largest of Bangladesh’s minority groups, forming 8% of the population.
Between August 4 and August 20, in the period of unrest around the collapse of Hasina’s government, over 200 people were killed in violence – nine Hindus among them.
Investigations by Netra News, an independent news outlet, claimed that these killings were “politically and personally motivated, not religiously driven”.
Observers say that this is not evidence of a “Hindu genocide”, as several Indian publications have been claiming.
The distorted information from India does not just damage people-to-people ties – it will have broader implications for the future of the relationship between the two neighbours, said Dhaka Tribune Business Editor Esha Aurora.
Bangladesh National Party leader Tabith Awal said that India’s decision to restrict visas and flights to Bangladesh, as well as the reduced border trade “are negative consequences of the Indian media’s reports on Bangladesh”.
A report in the Bangladeshi publication New Age says that the number of flights between Bangladesh and India has decreased significantly due to a shortage of passengers, following visa restrictions imposed by the Indian government.
The number of flights from Biman Bangladesh Airlines and US Bangla Airlines has been cut in half since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government. US Bangla Airlines has suspended over 62% of its flights because of the passenger shortage.
Fact checker Sumon Rahman said that the misinformation must be seen in the context of India’s dismay at the fall of the Awami League government, with which it had established strong ties. But the new Bangladesh government will most likely review trade agreements with its neighbour, since many believe that they are unfairly weighted in favour of India or Indian companies. Especially contentious has been a power deal with the Adani Group.
“India will likely pressure the new government to align with its interests, using tactics like visa restrictions,” Rahman said. “The Adani Group’s investments also motivate India to exert pressure, aiming to prevent Bangladesh from engaging too closely with China…”
Aurora of the Dhaka Tribune said that the misinformation from India could also hurt Bangladesh’s ties with other nations. For instance, in November, just before the US elections, Donald Trump in a social media post condemned the violence against minorities who, he claimed “ are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos”.
While it might have been a tactic for the Republicans to win Hindu votes during the US elections, it also means this is the perspective Trump is going to take in the White House, Aurora said. Bangladesh’s relationship with the US will be framed by this idea, and diplomatic relations might be tense.
“Economically, the US is the single-largest importer of Bangladesh’s biggest exports, RMG [ready made garments],” she said. “If the new White House starts to pressure businesses to not import Bangladesh RMG, the already fragile economy will be greatly affected.”
Tabith Awal of the Bangladesh National Party said that the misinformation in the Indian media also has an impact on Bangladesh’s political process, hampering the country’s efforts to re-establish a sense of unity after the uprising. “Some political elements may try to take advantage of the situation for their benefit,” he said.
As if to confirm Awal’s prediction, the deposed leader Sheikh Hasina, who has taken shelter in Delhi, accused Bangladesh’s interim government of perpetrating a genocide and failing to protect minorities.
Even Bangladeshi Hindus are wary of the consequences of this misinformation from India. Bipra Prasun Das, a 21-year-old Hindu student from North South University in Dhaka, whose ancestral home was burnt down during the week of Hasina’s fall, told Indian media watchdog Newslaundry: “If the Indian media had done its job properly, we would have had an easier time talking about what we are facing.”
Added Moumita Saha, a student at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh: “We do have problems in Bangladesh, including attacks on minorities since Hasina’s fall. However, the Indian media’s misinformation is making it harder for us to share our experiences. They need to report accurately.”
In addition, Saha said that Bangladeshi journalists should be more careful about covering minority attacks. “We are also lagging behind in covering the news,” she said.
Combatting this misinformation will require more honesty from the Bangladeshi media about the situation, said Sumitro Nath, a former journalist at the Daily Sarabangla.
“Bangladeshi media does not highlight minority attacks as much as it needed, which allows Indian media to spread misinformation,” said Nath. “When our country addresses its own issues, I do not care what others say. Because of the lack of coverage, India exaggerates the 10% of attacks and makes it seem like 90%.”
Nath said that those who harm minorities must be punished. The Bangladeshi government must ensure proper investigations into the attacks.
“When Hindus in Bangladesh don’t get justice, their leaders take this to India, and India uses it to its advantage,” he said.
Added Dolon Champa Dutta, a student at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, “...Why are we giving them the opportunity to spread this fake news and rumours? Why is our media not openly reporting on what is actually happening in the country? Why are these facts being hidden?”
Prominent Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil, editor-in-chief of Netra News, said that the biggest victims of misinformation in the Indian media are Bangladeshi Hindus.
“If the Indian media genuinely wants to discuss what is happening in Bangladesh, we welcome that,” he said. “However, it must be done with journalistic ethics and standards. The uprising in Bangladesh happened to establish rights for everyone. Our friends in India are welcome to engage in discussions about these issues; our door is open.”
Kaniz Fatema is a sub-editor at the Dhaka Tribune.
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