A video is going viral on social media platforms with a claim that it shows Muslims attacking temples and vandalising an idol of Goddess Kali in Bangladesh.
What have users said?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium handle shared the clip saying, "While Islamists in Bangladesh attacking Hindu Temples, vandalizing deities, their leaders are making tons of cash by importing essential food items, including potato, spices, lentil, egg etc from India."
What are the facts?: The video is actually from Sultanpur, West Bengal, and is unrelated to Bangladesh. It shows the people participating in the immersion ritual of Goddess Kali.
How did we find that out?: A reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral clip directed us to an unverified YouTube channel named 'Prabir Das'.
We found similar visuals that were uploaded on the channel on 30 November.
On further going through the channel, we found other visuals published on the same date. It identified the location as Sultanpur village.
Its title in Bengali, when translated to English said, "It's time to pray for our mother Kali of our Sultanpur village Joy Ma."
Other sources: Taking this as hint, we performed a keyword search in Bengali and found the viral clip uploaded on a Facebook handle.
It was shared on 27 November with a caption that said, "Sultanpur 12 years of interval mother Kali immersion."
Team WebQoof also found other visuals from the religious ceremony, which showed a huge crowd of people celebrating and participating in it.
What did the organisers say?: We found more visuals from the immersion ritual uploaded on a Facebook page named 'Sultanpur Kiranmoyi Library'.
Team WebQoof reached out to Debashish Mondal, member of the club, who confirmed that the video is from Sultanpur.
He said that the blacksmith community used to originally worship Goddess Kali, however, they handed over the responsibilities to the Morol group before shifting from the village.
Mondal mentioned that the entire village participates in the pooja. He said that the idol of Goddess Kali is around 13-foot tall. However, the place that housed the Goddess had a small door.
Mondal further said, "So with Maa Kali's blessings and advice, we cut off the Kali idol to immerse. It has been happening since a long time."
News reports: A report published in Dainik Statesman mentioned similar details and said that the practice is more than 600 years old.
It said that the blacksmith community used to practice this puja in the village and they later handed over the responsibility to the Mondal family.
It further said that the idol is broken into pieces and then is taken to the pond for immersion.
Conclusion: It is clear that a video from West Bengal is being falsely shared as an incident from Bangladesh with users giving it a false communal angle.
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