The viral video is from February 2024, when a political party named ‘Gana Adhikar Parishad’ initiated a boycott campaign against Indian products

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on August 5, after weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs descended into violence and grew into a broader challenge to her 15-year rule. The interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel peace laureate and social entrepreneur took charge from 8 August.

Against this backdrop, a video is going viral which is being shared saying that after the formation of the new government, the boycott of Indian products has started in Bangladesh. In the video, a person is going to shops and appealing not to sell Indian brands. The caption states “As soon as the new government is formed in Bangladesh, all the Muslim shopkeepers are being warned that if you have any similar in India in your shop, either destroy it or it should not be seen anywhere in the shop”.

Let’s check the truth

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by conducting a keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to several posts related to the viral video , which were uploaded on February 2024. This made it clear that the video is not recent and not after the recent coup.

The viral video was shared by a Facebook user named Tamanna Ferdous Shikha. According to the information given on Shikha ‘s Facebook account, she is the leader of the Gana Adhikar Parishad (Gono Odhikar Parishad) party.

Upon further search, we found that the same video was uploaded on a YouTube channel named Tarek’s Time on 22 February, 2024. “Going to the store, I am warning not to keep Indian products (translated from Bengali),” its title stated.

The channel’s description identified the man as Md Tarek Rahman of Gono Odhikar Parishad. 

By scanning through the social media handles of Tarek Rahman, we found him to be the Joint Member Secretary of the Gono Odhikar Parishad- a political party in Bangladesh. He has several videos on his profile where he talks about boycotting Indian products. In a post on his account dated 19 February, 2024, he also shared a list of such Indian products. There have been requests to boycott them.

Using this hint, we searched more and found Bangladeshi media outlets like Protho Malo and Ajker Patrika reported that the Gana Adhikar Parishad party was leading a campaign to boycott Indian products in February and March 2024. A massive “India Out” campaign was launched in Bangladesh following the re-election of Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister in January this year, alleging Indian government’s interference in Bangladesh politics.

For further clarification, we contacted Tarek Rahman for his comments on the video. The story will be updated on receiving the same.

Conclusion- 

Fact crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. The viral video is not recent, it is from February 2024, when a political party named ‘Gana Adhikar Parishad’ initiated a boycott campaign against Indian products