Old videos misrepresented as exodus from India's West Bengal after key polls
- Published on May 8, 2026 at 11:34
- 3 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to victory in key elections in the West Bengal state in May 2026, two videos circulated on social media with false claims they showed Bangladeshi migrants fleeing the region. But neither were filmed in the aftermath of the poll -- one video was taken during a Muslim religious gathering months ago, while the other was recorded in Bangladesh and unrelated to India's regional elections.
"The video is from West Bengal. Intruders have started leaving for Bangladesh," reads a Hindi-language X post shared on May 5.
The attached video shows a massive crowd of people walking along a road, many carrying bags. A man says to the camera: "Have you ever seen so many people? The entire area is on high alert. This has been going on for the past three days."
"People are arriving in huge numbers. The 2026 Biswa Ijtema is being held in our area, and Muslims from across the country are coming here. My home is also right here, in Puinan, Hooghly," he goes on to say, referring to one of the world's largest annual Muslim gatherings.
Despite the man's remarks that the crowd are attending a festival, comments show some users still believe they are fleeing West Bengal after the election.
"West Bengal is now being liberated from Islamic jihadists," one user wrote, while another said: "It's a good thing these infiltrators from other countries had to leave."
Another video posted on Facebook on the same day -- showing a large crowd of people boarding a ship -- similarly claims it depicted people leaving the state.
"Following the announcement of the election results, Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims began fleeing (West Bengal state)," its caption reads.
The videos circulated widely on Facebook and X and were shared after Modi's Hindu-nationalist BJP swept key elections in West Bengal, where the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh was a major campaign focus (archived here and here).
The BJP, the ruling party in the national parliament, had waged an aggressive campaign to dislodge the powerful regional party of firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee, who has been in power in West Bengal since 2011.
The videos shared online, however, do not depict Bangladeshi migrants fleeing West Bengal state.
Biswa Ijtema 2026
A reverse Google image search using the first video's keyframes revealed that the original video was shared on Instagram by content creator Dip Ghosh on January 5 (archived link).
The video's caption says it shows an "insane crowd" at the Biswa Ijtema festival.
A Google keyword search of the event led to multiple news reports confirming that Biswa Ijtema was held in January in Puinan of Hooghly district in West Bengal (archived link).
Ghosh told AFP on May 7 via direct message that he filmed the video in January 2026.
"This was filmed during the Biswa Ijtema, long before the elections, but it is now being shared with false claims," Ghosh said.
"I appeal to the public: please do not misuse my content in this manner."
Another reverse image search using key frames from the second clip footage led to a Facebook video shared on November 30, 2025 (archived link).
"Thousands of Muslims are boarding fast, using the stairs," its Bengali-language caption reads.
The Facebook page operated from Dhaka -- which regularly shares videos of passengers travelling on boats -- posted another video showing the same scene on December 14, with a caption saying it shows a crowd of hundreds of Muslim devotees returning home from Charmonai Mahfil, a religious gathering held annually in the southern part of Bangladesh (archived here and here).
AFP has previously debunked false claims about Muslim migrants fleeing to Bangladesh.
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