Anti-Bangladeshi disinformation in India

[3][1] In the aftermath of the full-fledged mass uprising on 5 August 2024, Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and exile to India, while an interim government led by the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed office.

[9] Several television news outlets also ran headlines falsely claiming that the violence constituted an "act of genocide" and a "pogrom", while an alleged arson attack on a Hindu temple was later found to have occurred at an adjacent Awami League office.

[10] Numerous India-based social media accounts circulated several misleading videos and images about attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus, using hashtags such as AllEyesOnBangladeshiHindus and SaveBangladeshiHindus, which were subsequently debunked by several fact-checking organisations.

As journalists visited the place to fact-check, the residents described the allegations to be false while his parents said that Karmakar's passport was confiscated by Indian reporters as soon as he entered India through the Petrapole border.

[15] On 11 September 2024, Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, an editor of the Indian newspaper The Economic Times, published a report stating that Mahfuj Alam, an adviser to the Yunus government, had "alleged allegiance" to the outlawed Islamist organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir.

[21] Analyst Farid Erkizia Bakht suggested that India's intent to destabilise Bangladesh through these disinformation campaigns stems from the disappointment of losing a valuable ally like Sheikh Hasina and from apprehensions about the new government in the country harbouring anti-Indian sentiments.