Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Managing Director and Chief Editor Mahbub Morshed today said Indian media is spreading propaganda on various issues against Bangladesh under a well-coordinated plan.
“The propaganda disseminated by Indian media on various matters related to Bangladesh is not a simple issue. India, as a state, plays a significant role behind this. It is part of India’s coordinated plan,” he said at a roundtable discussion here today.
Bangladesh Centre for Strategic Analysis (BCSA), a research and consulting firm that works to advance evidence-based policy formulation, strategic innovation and sustainable development, arranged the discussion titled “July Uprising & Rumour in Politics” at the Omni Residence Hotel at Banani.
Terming the rumors as unequal war, BSS MD said, “Our fight against disinformation and misinformation is entirely unequal. This is because those who spread or produce fake news require no qualifications. However, when we try to fact-check, we need to be experts on the subject.”
He said, India is waging a propaganda war against us with all its might. This should not be viewed as a matter of individual resistance, but rather as a collective war, he added.
Mahbub Morshed highlighted India’s attempt to establish a narrative abroad by spreading rumours in English, saying, “You will see that India is only spreading rumours in English. They have a significant number of English-speaking audience with whom they try to establish rumours as truth.”
To counter this Indian propaganda war, he urged all political parties to take concerted action, saying, “For this, the political parties in our country must take strong steps based on consensus.”
The meeting began with a welcome speech by Dr. Zia Haider, former Senior Health and Nutrition Specialist of the World Bank.
He said, in our current political culture, rumours and misinformation have become a serious concern. Since July 2024, we have witnessed how fake audio-visual contents and intentionally produced false information have been used to distort the political environment. Sometimes these rumours have been weaponized to defame protestors, and other times to incite violence.
To overcome this situation, all stakeholders must engage in critical self-criticism about their roles. Those who spread rumors must be held accountable, and those who fall victim to them must be given safety and protection, he added.
Noted lawyer Barrister Rashna Imam said, We need to establish a coherent and effective legal framework to combat rumours. Continuous engagement with digital platforms like Facebook is essential, as they are not operated under any regulatory framework in the country and they have lack accountability to the public. So, those platforms must be brought under the purview of our laws and policies so that they are compelled to cooperate with the state in combating disinformation and relevant authorities can take necessary actions against them if necessary.
Bangladesh representative of Internews Shamim Ara Shiuly noted that in the past two years, nearly two-third of the rumours circulated on social media have targeted political figures. Among them, female politicians have faced the most vicious attacks.
“Unfortunately, very few of those rumours have been debunked,” she said.
Shiuly said every media outlet in Bangladesh needs a robust fact-checking team. Political parties should also establish dedicated units to actively combat false information and rumours.
The event was moderated by Asif Bin Ali, a doctoral fellow at Georgia State University and moderated by Shahadat Swadhin, Deputy Director of BCSA.
BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed, politician Dr. Faizul Hakim Lala, Advocate Farzana Sharmin Putul, political analyst Ashraf Kaiser, Associate Professor Dr. Salim Hossain of Dhaka University; Sadik Mahmud of BRAIN, Professor Salma Begum of Dhaka University, social worker Nadia Nivin and social worker Jayanti Roy, among others, took part in the discussion.
facebook sharing buttonmessenger sharing buttontwitter sharing buttonwhatsapp sharing button
