Masters of narrative spinning – BBC is back with cherry-picking incidents and downplaying the horrendous atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh.
Ever since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country, Bangladesh has been on a boil and marred with violence. Victims are the same as usual in any Muslim-majority country in South Asia – the minority community, specifically the Hindu minority.
The country has seen over 200 instances of attacks on minority community members, especially Hindus in the country’s 52 districts, following former prime minister Hasina’s departure on 5th August. A factsheet has been prepared by the Bengali Hindu Adarsha Sangh (BHAS), which lists the ongoing genocide of Hindus. A comprehensive list of reported atrocities can also be found here.
While the global media has highlighted the concerns as seen here, an anti-Hindu ecosystem is using its standard modus operandi – SPINNING THE NARRATIVE! Who better to lead it than the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)?
In its article, the BBC employed selective reporting, biased “fact-checking” and misleading comparisons to skew the narrative and downplay the Islamist attacks on Hindus.
The BBC claimed, “We found that many of the videos and claims shared online are false”. The BBC pointed out how Sheikh Hasina’s party Awami League was targeted and that it comprised both “Hindu and Muslim members”, thus subtly framing the narrative to rationalise the attacks on Hindus because of political unrest in the Islamic republic.
BBC condemns India for addressing the atrocities in Bangladesh
Staying true to its biased reporting,, the BBC ensured India was prominently referenced in the article.
It implied that ‘fake online videos’ depicting attacks on Hindus, labelled as hate crimes, were part of a broader scheme by India and accounts promoting ‘Hindu-nationalist values.’
This was one of the tactics used by the BBC to politicise the religious violence against Hindus. Effectively victim-blaming Hindus.
BBC: Motives behind attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus hard to determine
After attempting to downplay real cases of atrocities against Bangladeshi Hindus by cherry-picking videos and selectively fact-checking them, the UK’s national broadcaster asserted that determining the motives behind the attacks was challenging.
The BBC quickly introduced a political angle to the attacks by asserting that Hindus were primarily ‘supporters of Sheikh Hasina,’ suggesting that the attacks were due to their political affiliation rather than their religious identity.
Missing the bigger picture and context
“Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a non-profit established to protect minority human rights, reported five Hindu people killed. Two have been confirmed as Awami League members. The AFP has put the count of Muslim Awami League leaders who have been killed at more than 50,” the BBC further pointed out to suggest that attacks on Hindus were devoid of religious motives.
What BBC forgot to point out is:
- This is not the first anti-Hindu pogroms in Bangladesh. Genocidal attacks have been taking place since 1947 (when East Pakistan), leading to the population of Hindus declining from ~30% in the 1940s to ~8% now.
- Forming ~91% of the country’s population now, it is clear that Muslims make up the majority of the ruling Awami League. Hindus have been disproportionately targeted by violent mobs of Muslims opposed to Sheikh Hasina. Therefore, the fact that only Hindu Awami League members were killed, while 50 Muslims also died, does not negate the aspect of religious violence. The BBC has failed to address why only Hindu temples, and not mosques, were attacked if the violence was purely political.
Temple protectors have ‘religion’ but attackers don’t
To further downplay the attacks on Hindus, the BBC emphasised photo ops of Muslims allegedly protecting temples.
It claimed, “When false claims about attacks on Hindus went viral online, some Muslim protesters decided to guard Hindu temples.”
However, the BBC did not clarify who was threatening these Hindu religious sites or the religious identity of the attackers. It’s noteworthy that the supposed temple protectors were identified by their religion, while the attackers were not.
The BBC failed to highlight who they were protecting the temples from.
Furthermore, Dipan Mitra, the secretary general of the World Hindu Federation (Bangladesh Chapter) while recently speaking to OpIndia had outrightly rejected the claims that Muslims were protecting Hindu temples and said, “It is just a stunt. They take photos near Hindu temples, publish them [on social media] and leave. This is just an eyewash for global leaders and people worldwide that oh, see, even Muslims are protecting Hindu temples. But this is totally wrong.”
Bangladesh Interim Government apologies to Hindus
Failing to protect the Hindu minority from religious persecution, the interim government of Bangladesh had tendered an apology to the Hindu community.
Brig Gen (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain, the Home Affairs Adviser of the interim government, had apologised to the Hindu community for the recent violence they have endured.
In his apology, the Home Affairs Adviser admitted the government’s failure to ensure their protection and called on society as a whole to take responsibility for addressing the issue.
We won’t allow the BBC to distort the narrative
It is clear from the activities of the past few days that the Hindu community of Bangladesh is under siege. While we pray for their safety and urge the international community and the Indian Government to come to the rescue, the least we can do as a society is not to let their struggles and sufferings go unnoticed!
References
- https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hindus-bangladesh-try-flee-india-amid-violence-2024-08-08/
- https://voiceofhindus.org/minority-hindus-in-bangladesh-under-siege/
- https://www.news18.com/opinion/opinion-bangladeshs-hindus-are-being-terrorised-where-is-the-outrage-8993012.html
- https://pjmedia.com/uzay-bulut/2024/08/17/bangladesh-islamist-pogroms-against-hindus-n4931726#google_vignette
- https://www.opindia.com/2024/08/bangladesh-hindus-under-attack-bbc-whitewashes-atrocities-as-political-violence-not-religious-crime-lies-debunked/
- https://www.opindia.com/2024/02/bangladeshi-author-and-blitz-magazine-editor-asks-govt-to-take-action-against-anti-hindu-anti-india-youtuber-pinaki-bhattacharya/
- https://www.opindia.com/2024/08/hindus-slaughtered-bangladesh-al-jazeera-insidious-narrative-die-under-watch-of-india/
- https://www.opindia.com/2024/08/abc-denies-religious-angle-on-attack-on-hindus-in-bangladesh-brings-political-angle/#google_vignette
- https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/bangladesh-interim-govt-apologises-to-hindu-community-for-violence-home-affairs-adviser-brig-gen-retd-m-sakhawat-hossain-statement-bangladesh-media-ban-warning