The Indian media’s crusade against Bangladesh mirrors its Nepal playbook
The offensive that Indian TV news anchors have launched against Bangladesh is far more aggressive than their tirade against Nepal
In 2020, bilateral tensions between India and Nepal heated up against the backdrop of the former constructing a road in a disputed territory. In response, Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli adopted a defiant stance, issuing a new map placing the disputed region within Nepal's borders and passing a bill through the parliament recognising it.
India chose to not take it lying down.
While then Indian Army chief General MM Naravane suggested that Oli's objection to the road construction was instigated by Beijing, Indian media launched a full-scale onslaught against Nepal.
"What is going on with Nepal? Have the Chinese completely taken over?" Indian media host Arnab Goswami of Republic TV launched his loud tirade during a show at the time.
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"India is a big country and has a big market. The Indian media can easily influence people of South Asia who don't have media literacy. The Indian media must not irritate neighbouring people as their coverage damages social harmony, people-to-people relations and diplomatic relations between close friends."
The Indian media also invented a "romantic affair" between PM Oli and Chinese ambassador Hou Yanqi. Zee Hindustan, in a now deleted report on its YouTube channel, alleged that Oli had "given his heart away and… found himself in a Chinese honey trap that forced him to bargain with India-Nepal ties". A South China Morning Post report later referred to the Zee Hindustan report as calling Hou a "Chinese spy" and a "poison maiden".
There are ample examples of Indian media detailing a "honey trap" to discredit PM Oli's defiance. And it reached such an extent that Nepal had to ban some Indian media.
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's long serving prime minister considered loyal to Delhi, the Indian media has found a new target. And the offence that Indian TV news anchors launched against Bangladesh is far more aggressive than their tirade against Nepal.
While they are not necessarily wearing military fatigues, like some Indian journalists did during military tensions with Pakistan, some of them have come up with ludicrous tirades against Bangladesh while jumping and running on camera. Some have delivered illustrations on how onions imported from Pakistan are indeed weapons. And of course, all sorts of false reports have flooded the entire media landscape of India.
Rumour Scanner, an independent fact-checking organisation, published a report on 6 December, stating that after the fall of Sheikh Hasina, between 12 August and 5 December, a total of 49 Indian media outlets were found spreading fake news about Bangladesh.
BJP mouthpiece Republic Bangla topped the list, spreading five false news stories about Bangladesh, while Hindustan Times and Live Mint spread three false stories about Bangladesh during this timeframe. The list also includes Times of India, WION, CNN-News18, etc.
India Today, for example, cited "sources" to report that Bangladesh had deployed Turkish drones near the border, and India was on high alert. CA Press Wing Facts, Bangladesh government's fact-checking body, dismissed this as a fake and fabricated news.
"Bangladesh has not deployed any drones, apart from its routine activities, in any part of the country," the CA Press Wing Facts said, quoting a defence ministry spokesperson.
Indian social media, meanwhile, has been carrying what the Bangladesh government considers industrial level misinformation and disinformation campaigns in the issue of attacks against minorities in Bangladesh.
While attacks against minorities in this part of the world is a very real problem, India too has a critical record of attacks against Muslim minorities. Bangladesh has its burden of not ensuring adequate safety of minorities and incidents of attacks in temples and properties do happen, but not to the extent of India.
But whataboutism aside, the Hindutva mob in India took the uprising and political violence in Bangladesh as an opportunity to paint the country as a communal state, to cover up their own failures in saving their minorities and in effect, justify further repression against Indian minorities, and increase the support base of the BJP.
How are they doing it? An Indian X account shared a video of Indians trampled in a religious event in India, and falsely portrayed it as Hindu woman and children raped and killed in Bangladesh. This video has been watched and shared by thousands of people.
From AI-made content, to misplaced videos of temples being vandalised, they launched a concerted campaign to paint Bangladesh as a communal state. And the Indian media, instead of fact-checking the social media propaganda, took cues from them and launched their own offence against Bangladesh.
The Bangla news media of India are spreading the most damaging false content against Bangladesh. ABP Ananda, for example, reported that "Hindus are attacked on sight in Bangladesh". In another report, it alleges that "Hindu women cannot go out in vermilion in Bangladesh, in trouble if they are recognised as Hindus".
Mayukh Ranjan Ghosh, Republic Bangla host, beside his daily dose of anti-Bangladesh disinformation, has been spreading ideas of how India could colonise parts of Bangladesh.
Rumor Scanner has provided a long list of issues, which include: misidentifying slain lawyer Saiful Islam as arrested Chinmoy Krishna's lawyer; spreading a video of idol immersion in India, falsely claiming it was in response to Hindu idols being destroyed in Bangladesh due to Muslim attacks; falsely claiming a communal attack on a Shyamoli Paribahan bus, and so on.
A few weeks ago, Indian analyst Yogendra Yadav in an interview with Nepal's Himal Khabar explained how the Indian suspicion towards Nepal's engagement with China was created by Indian media narratives. He emphasised on not seeing "relationship between the two countries solely through the lens of the [Indian] foreign ministry" while stressing constant people-to-people relations.
We recently spoke with Nepalese journalist Jagdishor Panday on the perception of Indian media in Nepal and other neighbouring countries.
"[Indian media] have disinformation about Nepal and people of Nepal think that India always comes up with wrong news," Jagdishor Panday said. "In terms of foreign policy and its relations with neighbours and other countries, the Indian media are more pro than their government. Their reporting is more pro than their foreign ministry.
"India is a big country and has a big market. The Indian media can easily influence people of South Asia who don't have media literacy. The Indian media must not irritate neighbouring people as their coverage damages social harmony, people-to-people relations and diplomatic relations between close friends," he added.
