Webdesk: During Narendra Modi’s time in power, India has seen a sharp rise in state-led oppression, especially against Muslims. The hidden agenda behind the Hindutva ideology is now becoming more visible. After the removal of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, seen by many as a puppet of India, Bengali Muslims have become the new target of the BJP. After Pakistan, it seems Modi’s government is now trying to spread religious extremism and unrest in Bangladesh too.
According to reports, the Modi government, in collaboration with pro-government media outlets, is working to weaken Bengali Muslims living in India, both politically and economically.
Indian website Scroll revealed that Bengali Muslim workers in India are being arrested illegally and declared “suspicious foreigners.”
On June 26, despite having valid ID documents, two Muslim families in Delhi were forcibly sent back to Bangladesh. Many Bengali workers are being denied their identity papers and land ownership records, and then forcibly removed from the country.
Scroll also reported that on June 30 in Odisha, 36 workers were detained for six days just for speaking the Bengali language. After the Pahalgam attack, arrests and racial targeting of Bengali Muslims under BJP rule have increased.
Recently, a Bangladeshi organisation called Rumour Scanner exposed the Indian media’s attempt to twist facts in the Sohag murder case. The pro-government media spread hatefully by reporting that the victim was a Muslim pretending to be Hindu using the incident to create false claims.
It seems that these untruths by the Indian media are all part of a greater agenda of creating tension in Bangladesh and increasing religious polarization. The actions of the Modi government appear to aim to instigate unrest in Bangladesh, as a casus belli to intervene politically.
The Indian mainstream press, particularly the so-called Godi Media, has been transformed into a stratagem of state propaganda under the Modi rule. Rather than defending journalistic integrity, these media serve as sources of misinformation, promote religious animosity, and target the BJP in government against any criticism.
Their skewed bias was recently revealed when covering the murder of a Muslim in the city of Sohag, where a Muslim victim was deliberately misidentified as Hindu to stoke communal fury.
Through partially twisted facts and Islamophobic messages, Indian media is not merely an ally of the anti-Muslim propaganda of the state but an active contributor to the tensions in the region, especially with neighboring Bangladesh.
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