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Published : 08 May 2026, 06:24 PM
Two videos widely shared on social media, showing “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants” fleeing West Bengal after the BJP’s election victory, have been found to be unrelated to the polls.
One of the videos showed hundreds of people carrying bags and walking along a road, with several wearing skullcaps.
Social media users claimed the footage showed “Bangladeshi Islamists” returning home following the BJP’s sweeping victory in the West Bengal assembly election, reported India Today.
However, the video itself included a boy identifying the location as Puinan in Hooghly district and saying people had gathered there over three days for the Biswa Ijtema, a major Islamic congregation.
A report published by Indian newspaper The Statesman on Jan 3 said the Biswa Ijtema was held in Puinan, Dadpur in Hooghly district and attracts millions of participants from different countries.
A reverse image search of key frames from the video also led to an Instagram post shared on Jan 5 by Deep Ghosh, the boy seen in the footage.
He said the video showed crowds travelling to the Biswa Ijtema in 2026.
Another viral video showed large numbers of people wearing skullcaps gathered with bags at what users claimed was a railway station in West Bengal, India Today said.
Posts alleged the “infiltrators” had started leaving India after seeing the election results.
But a reverse search found a longer version of the footage posted by a Bangladeshi Facebook account, Launch Capture, on Nov 30, 2025.
The post said the video showed worshippers boarding boats after the Charmonai Mahfil in Bangladesh.
Another version of the footage clearly showed people boarding river boats, with buildings in the background.
The location was identified as near Al-Karim Jame Mosque and Rashidia Kamil Madrasah in Charmonai, Bangladesh, wrote India Today.
