In recent months, following the ouster of the pro-India Awami League government, Indian media outlets have embarked on an aggressive disinformation campaign against Bangladesh, continuously churning out fake news aimed at undermining Dhaka’s international image and bombarding the Yunus interim government to impose pressure on it. According to Rumor Scanner, a Bangladeshi fact-checking organization, approximately 72% of social media accounts spreading fake news and misinformation against Bangladesh are located in India. Between August 12 and December 5, 2024, a total of 49 Indian media outlets spread at least 13 false reports targeting Bangladesh. As a giant neighbor to Bangladesh, why has India abandoned its “neighborhood first” policy after Hasina’s downfall and utilized the media to wage continuous attacks on Bangladesh?
False Information on Minority and Religious Issues Tarnishes Bangladesh’s International Image
While instances of violence involving Hindus in Bangladesh did occur, these are often driven by political disputes or land conflicts rather than deep-seated animosities, but Indian media has turned a blind eye to this fact and exaggerated the narrative of “persecution against Hindus”. For example, according to an investigation by BBC Verify, a fact-checking unit of the British broadcaster, a video posted by the Indian account “Daily Latest Updates” on X, featuring Chattogram’s Nobogroho Temple in Laldighi Par allegedly being set on fire, was found to be fake news. As a matter of fact, the temple was not the target, but rather an Awami League office situated right behind the temple. Nevertheless, “Daily Latest Updates” released that video along with the hashtags “#AllEyesOnBangladeshiHindus” and “#SaveBangladeshiHindus”. The video was also shared by several Indian news channels, such as Sudarshan News. Besides, Indian public figures represented by former Indian Army officer Major General Gagandeep Bakshi played an active role in inciting false accusation on minority and religious issues in Bangladesh to undermine the legitimacy of Bangladesh’s interim government. “Bangladesh under Mohd Yunis has turned to radical jihadism. It wants to push out its Hindu minorities via genocide and seems itching for a fight,” Gagandeep Bakshi said on X.
Indian Mainstream Media Smeared the Foreign Policy of the Bangladeshi Interim Government
On November 13, 2024, a container ship docked at the port of Chittagong from Karachi, Pakistan, marking the first such arrival since Bangladesh’s independence. A Rumor Scanner investigation confirmed the ship was “MV Yuan Xiang Fa Zhan”, a commercial vessel delivering industrial raw materials and consumer goods. In order to sabotage the image of the interim government of Bangladesh and intensify the internal conflicts in Bangladesh, the Indian media immediately carried out a new round of disinformation campaigns by falsely claiming that the ship was the same as the Pakistani military vessel “swat”, which had brought arms and ammunition to Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War. They further alleged that the ship was shipping weapons from Pakistan to Bangladesh nowadays. Media outlets such as Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu and the Print went further, mocking the interim government for ignoring the atrocities committed by Pakistan in 1971, proclaiming that “Yunus leading Bangladesh to new crossroad—being a bankrupt Islamic Republic of East Pakistan .”
Indian Politician’s Mischaracterization of Bangladesh’s Student Movement Adds Fuel to the Fire
Indian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician Suvendu Adhikari has described the student uprising in Bangladesh as a “large-scale violent event triggered by Islamists occupying a neighboring country”. Within the information cocoon that Indian media attempts to weave for the international community, the political transition in Bangladesh is not the result of a people’s movement led by students, but rather a conspiracy orchestrated by anti-Indian forces and Islamic organizations. In the same vein, the newly formed interim government in Bangladesh is described as a product of Islamic extremism. To bolster this narrative, Indian journalist Palki Sharma, on the YouTube channel of Firstpost and news portal BDDiGEST, published false and fabricated reports on Home Secretary Nasimul Ghani, attempting to tag him as a founder of the banned Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir. However, upon verification, Home Secretary Nasimul Ghani and the so-called leader mentioned in that report are different people. In fact, the alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir leader, whose actual name is Nasim Gani, is a British citizen instead of a Bangladeshi official.
The disinformation campaign appears to be tacitly endorsed by the Indian government.
A 2013 report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford noted that “Indian media may be at a turning point, beginning to lose credibility.” Following the rise of the Modi government, Indian media has become increasingly familial, corporatized, and politicized. In a 2022 report, a German foundation highlighted that “Indian media has become a tool for certain vested interests to spread divisive propaganda, hate, and disinformation.” After the July 2024 student movement in Bangladesh, Indian media outlets have disseminated erroneous and false information about Bangladesh with impunity, without any investigation by Indian regulatory bodies. Some Indian politicians have reinforced international misunderstandings of the situation in Bangladesh by taking advantage of inaccurate reports produced by media outlets.
It is undeniable that Indian media is becoming increasingly aggressive, attempting to shape Bangladesh as a failed state mired in chaos so as to help Indian government pressure the interim government and reassert it’s control over Dhaka. Nonetheless, the cycle of disinformation where one rumor fuels another only traps both nations’ citizens in a web of bias, hate, and misleading propaganda, leading to more violence and threatening the national security and social stability of both countries. This “war of words” strategy is neither in India’s long-term regional interests nor beneficial to the fundamental well-being of the people of both nations.
Currently, the interim government of Bangladesh has begun actively seeking international support and is establishing efficient fact-checking mechanisms to accelerate the fight against fake news. Also, perhaps it is time for the Indian government to take measures to control disinformation and online rumors; otherwise, the gap between the Indian and Bangladeshi people will further deepen.
Nazifa Jannat is a journalism student at Syracuse University, an observer of South Asian affairs.
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