Old Video From Bangladesh Given a False Communal Spin in India

People had offered prayer standing in knee-deep water as the embankments were damaged following Cyclone Amphan.

The claim states that Muslims are offering prayers standing in river Ganga.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A two-minute video is being shared on social media with the claim that the Muslim community is chanting azaan by standing in river Ganga and that it is a part of their plan to make the banks of Ganga a permanent settlement for the community.

However, we found that the video is from Khulna district of Bangladesh when residents had offered prayer standing in knee-deep water as the embankments were damaged following Cyclone Amphan in May 2020.

CLAIM

The claim shared along with the video, when translated in English, reads: "It is a plan of the Muslims to capture a secluded place by chanting azaan in river Ganga. According to their plan, a temporary residence should be built on the banks of Ganga, later it will be converted into a permanent residence. Because the next battle of the world will be for water. And by living on the banks of river Ganga, these Muslims will strengthen Islam."

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The claim has been massively shared on Twitter and Facebook and the archived version of the posts can be found here, here, and here.

(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND

Using Google Chrome's InVID extension, we divided the video into multiple keyframes and conducted a reverse image search on them.

The search results led us to a YouTube video by a channel called 'Daily AjkerNews' and was uploaded on 25 May 2020.

The caption mentioned that residents of Koyra upazila in Bangladesh stood in knee-deep water and celebrated Eid in a different manner following Cyclone Amphan.

Cyclone Amphan had hit the coast of eastern India and Bangladesh on 20 May 2020 and wreaked havoc, with at least 84 people killed in both the countries, BBC had reported.

Taking a cue from here, we did a keyword search on Google, and found multiple news reports about people praying in knee-deep water on the occasion of Eid.

A report by Dhaka Tribune published on 25 May 2020 stated that Cyclone Amphan had destroyed embankments and flooded several areas in Koyna upazila of Khulna district, forcing people to offer namaz, or Eid prayers, standing in knee-deep water.

(Source: Dhaka Tribune/Screenshot)

We also found a video on YouTube published on a Bangladesh news channel 'Jamuna TV' on 25 May 2020.

Next, on comparing the viral video with the one uploaded in 2020, we found several similar elements.

(Source: Facebook/ Jamuna TV)

Evidently, an old video from Bangladesh was claimed to be from India and given a false communal spin.

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