Rumor Scanner debunks Kolkata media's claim of Bangladeshis destroying Indian crops

Fact-checking body Rumor Scanner has debunked a video claiming that Bangladeshi citizens are destroying crops of Indian agricultural land.

Indian media outlet Republic Bangla has recently circulated a video on various social media claiming that "Some Bangladeshis have infiltrated the Malda-Sukdevpur border of India and destroyed the crops of agricultural land in the dark of night".

In an investigation, the fact-checking watchdog said the video of Meherpur farmers destroying their cauliflowers for not getting a fair price has been circulated claiming that Bangladeshis infiltrated the Indian border and destroyed the crops of Indian farmers; which is false.

In an investigation to verify the authenticity of the claimed video, the original video was found in a post published on the Facebook page of Maasranga Television on 1 January with the caption "Farmers of Meherpur are destroying cauliflower in the fields after not getting the desired price". 

It is found in the analysis that farmers in Meherpur are destroying cauliflower in their fields out of anger over not getting the desired price. In interviews with the farmers present in the video, they also said that they destroyed the crop out of frustration over not getting a fair price.

A video report published on the Facebook page of Nagorik TV on 2 January has revealed detailed information about the video in question. The report revealed the video was taken in Gangni Upazila of Meherpur district. As cauliflower was being sold for only Tk1 per piece, so the frustrated farmers were forced to destroy the cauliflower in their fields themselves in protest.

In addition, the same information has been revealed in reports published in multiple media outlets in the country about the incident of farmers destroying cauliflower in Meherpur.