Mohammed Zubair, one of the co-founders of Alt News and who is known for muddling truth about issues with his ‘selective fact checks’, swiftly hunkered down to publishing and sharing ‘fact-checks’ about inconsequential details about videos to give an impression that everything is hunky-dory in Bangladesh and the reports of targeted attacks against minorities, especially its vibrant Hindu population, is an online hysteria blew up by vested interest groups back in India.
One such attempt to downplay instances of violence and ransacking faced by Hindus in Bangladesh was made by Zubair and Alt News on August 6, 2024, as it published a ‘fact-check’ about a bloodcurdling video of a woman being gang-raped by Bangladeshi men.
While the premise of the video was how Bangladeshi men had been using rape as a tool to attack women—a centuries-old practice ascribed to Islamic marauders who treated women and children as war booty and wreaked unimaginable horrors on them, including violating them and forcibly enlisting them in their harems—Zubair, instead, focused on where the video was from and ignored the sentiments it conveyed.
Attacking social media users, Zubair said the video was old and unrelated and pertained to a 2021 incident from Bengaluru where a Bangladeshi woman was gang-raped. Zubair also shared a link to the Alt News ‘fact-check’ of the incident.
The ‘fact-check’ said the video was from 2021 and not from Bangladesh. Instead, the article cited a News Bangla 24 report, stating that the incident took place in Kerala and both, the survivors and the perpetrators, were of Bangladeshi origins.
Citing police reports, the report said that the Bangalore police arrested 12 persons, including three women who were illegal Bangladeshi migrants. They had brought the Bangladeshi girl to India under the pretence of offering her a job but subsequently coerced her into prostitution.
The incident has, nevertheless, brought attention to the scourge of illegal immigration facing the country. The influx of illegal immigrants into India via Bangladesh continues unabated. The illegal immigrants enter India, obtain fake identity documents at times, and also engage in illegal activities. There have been many cases in the past when these illegal immigrants were found involved in human trafficking rackets, illegal drug trade, and other criminal activities involving theft, assault, and other cases.
Despite the Indian government’s efforts and actions, the constant rush of illegal immigrants into India through Bangladesh continues. In the past ten days, several such cases have been reported from various parts of the country where the Bangladeshi happened to illegally enter India. However, the immigrants were identified and immediately nabbed by the Indian administration.
On 31st March this year, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) announced the arrest of five Bangladeshi nationals in Navi Mumbai for illegally entering and staying in India without proper documents. The arrested persons were identified as Aahat Jamal Sheikh (22), Rebul Samad Sheikh (40), Ronney Soriful Khan (25), Julu Billal Sharif (28) and Mohammad Munir Mohammad Siraj Mulla (49).
An ATS official stated that they received a tip-off and that the Vikhroli unit conducted an operation in two sites in Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai. During the operation, five Bangladeshis were detained in Ghansoli’s Janai Compound and Shivaji Talao area.
As per the reports, none had legitimate documents or a permit to live in India, but they worked as masons in Navi Mumbai. The immigrants were arrested under the provisions of the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Rules of 1950.
On the very same day, 31st March, Mankachar police in Assam nabbed an illegal Bangladeshi national who had been living in the area for eight months. The suspect was identified as Osama Bin Hasan Sajib, son of Manzoorul Hasan from Veluya village in Sherpur district, Bangladesh, and was found hiding at Khalilur Miah’s home in Jhanjhani village, Mankachar.
According to reports, Sajib crossed the border into Mankachar from Mahendraganj, Meghalaya, some eight months ago. During his stay, he practised ‘faith healing’ in Mankasar and other areas in Meghalaya. Several such reports of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants creating law and order problems have surfaced from different parts of the country, highlighting one of the challenges the Home Ministry faces in ensuring the internal safety of the nation.
How illegal Bangladeshi immigrants have been indulging in criminal activities in India
Though the aim of the ‘fact-check’ was to discredit reports of violence and rape directed at Hindu minorities in Bangladesh amid ongoing political turmoil, Zubair and Alt News inadvertently shone a light on the extent of barbarity illegal Bangladeshis committed with impunity in India. It demonstrated how, not just in Bangladesh, where Islamists are in the majority, but in a Hindu-majority India too, they have no fear of the law as the viral video depicted, showing illegal Bangladeshi immigrants ruthlessly violating a woman.
But more importantly, the ‘fact-check’ by Alt News, though carried out with ulterior motives, served as a grim cautionary tale for what awaits India if we don’t take strict action against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, including Rohingyas, living in our midst. If not deported to their country, this bunch of unlawful Bangladeshis, a majority of whom are intoxicated with the venom of Islamic supremacism and brainwashed for waging jihad, would eventually render the country inhabitable, as history suggests and the present spasm of violence in Bangladesh attests.
Mohammed Zubair and Alt News tried to whitewash Islamist violence against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh
Zubair, infamous for dog-whistling against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, which triggered a diplomatic crisis for India and nationwide ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ protests that led to the deaths of many innocent people, including Kanhaiya Lal of Udaipur and Umesh Kolhe from Amravati, tried hard to portray recent atrocities directed against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh as ‘right-wing propaganda’.
However, truth eventually caught up with him, as Bangladeshi Hindus came forth and shared their ordeal with the world. The videos and pictures of Islamists going on rampage against Hindus in Bangladesh, defiling their temples and desecrating their idols, violating their women, and killing their men debunked his propaganda that Bangladeshi Hindus were safe and not subjected to religious persecution.
Amidst the unrest in the neighbouring country, Islamists saw an opportunity to kill and torture the minority Hindus in the country and loot their properties. One of the most devastating stories coming from Bangladesh is of famous Bangladeshi singer Rahul Ananda whose house was looted and burnt down by an Islamist mob.
On the afternoon of 5th August, an Islamist mob reached the house of the singer and frontman of the band Joler Gaan, Rahul Ananda. He was living in a rental house that was attacked. When the attack happened, Rahul, his wife Shukla, his son Tota and other family members were there. Somehow, they managed to escape and took shelter at an unknown location.
Speaking to The Daily Star, a family source said, “As soon as they had broken the gate, they started ravaging the house taking whatever they could find for themselves. They took everything from furniture and mirrors to valuables. After that, they torched the whole house and Rahul da’s musical instruments.” There were around 3,000 irreplaceable musical instruments at the house which he designed and made over the years. The monetary value of household items could be close to Tk 10 lakh, but Jarnal said, “But how could you put a price on the instruments which he so lovingly built?”
When a famous singer in Bangladesh, who brought pride to the nation, wasn’t spared by Islamists. In that case, it’s easy to imagine the plight of countless ordinary Hindus who lacked the privileges of Ananda and had to endure the wrath of Islamists driven to target them solely because of their religion.
