No, Bengali Hindus Aren’t Fleeing Their Homes – It’s an Old Video

The clip is of the 2018 Asansol riots and is being shared to make it seem like Hindus are currently fleeing homes.

A viral video falsely claimed that Hindus were forced to vacate their homes in West Bengal.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

A viral video on social media claims that Hindus are being forced to vacate their homes in the Diamond Harbour area of South 24 Paraganas in West Bengal. The claim reads: ‘*बधाई हो !!!* *बंगाल बना दूसरा कश्मीर* *जिन हिन्दुओं को मुस्लिम में अपना भाई नजर आता है वो इस विडिओ को जरूर देखें । ये विडिओ आज की है !* *जगह का नाम है डाइमण्ड हार्बर, जिला : दक्षिण 24 परगना(पश्चिम बंगाल) !* *यहां के हिन्दुओं को मस्जिद के माईक से बोल दिया गया है जिंदा रहना है तो घर छोड़ कर चले जाओ और ये बेचारे अपना घर छोड़ कर भाग रहें हैं !* *अभी प्रतिवाद नहीं किया तो एक दिन भारत छोड़ के भागना पड़ेगा’’

(Translation: Congratulations! Bengal has become second Kashmir. Those Hindus who see their brothers in Muslims must definitely see this video. This video is of today! The name of the place is Diamond Harbor, District: South 24 Parganas (West Bengal)! Here the Hindus have been told from the mosque’s mic, if you want to stay alive, leave the house and go and poor people are leaving their house! If you do not protest now, one day you will have to run away from India.)

Earlier in May, the video was also viral with the claim: ‘बंगाल कि मुख्यमंत्री ममता बनर्जी बंगाल में हिंदुओ का घर खाली करवा रही है वो इस वीडियो में जरा देखिये”

(Translation: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is making Hindus vacate their houses in Bengal, look at this video.)

Several social media users shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

The video is viral on Facebook.

The Quint also received a query about the claims made about the same video via our WhatsApp helpline.

TRUE OR FALSE?

The claims made about the viral video are false. Hindus in Diamond Harbour area in West Bengal were not forced to vacate their homes and certainly not by Mamata Banerjee. The video dates back to 2018. It is actually of Asansol riots in West Bengal that happened a day after Ram Navami.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We did a frame-to-frame analysis using InVID, a video verification tool and then reverse searched each frame on reverse search image engine Yandex. This led us to BBC News Hindi’s official Twitter handle.

The reverse image search engine led us to BBC News Hindi’s official Twitter handle.

BBC News Hindi tweeted the viral video on 2 April, 2018. The caption reads: ‘ बंगाल से ग्राउंड रिपोर्ट: 'पुलिस खड़ी रही और हमारी दुकान जल रही थी...’

(Translation: Bengal se ground report: ‘Police was standing and our shop was on fire..’)

On 26 March 2018, a day after Ram Navami, riots broke out in Raniganj and Asansol in West Bengal. At least three people were killed in the riots, reported Scroll.

As per local sources, the violence in Asansol was instigated by a religious rally that was going on in Dhadka, Asansol (north), The Quint had earlier reported. Sources further said that bombing was reported from the area and various shops were looted and vandalised. Later, the violence also spread to areas like Railpaar, Safi More, Barua Bazaar, Hajinagar, Chandmari, Napitpara and Ramkishan Dangal. Anxious locals started leaving their homes in panic.

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