Fact Check: Video Shows Religious Gathering, Not Bangladeshi Immigrants Fleeing West Bengal After BJP Victory

Recent social media claims purporting to show Bangladeshi immigrants fleeing West Bengal following BJP electoral victories have been debunked as false and misleading, fact-checkers confirmed Thursday.

The widely shared video depicts hundreds of people walking along a roadside, with narration suggesting they were “Bangladeshi infiltrators” leaving India after the Bharatiya Janata Party secured a majority in the West Bengal state polls on May 4.

“All Bangladeshis are fleeing,” wrote one Facebook user who shared the footage, while similar claims proliferated across multiple social media platforms including X (formerly Twitter). Many posts specifically connected the alleged exodus to political developments following recent elections.

However, investigation by fact-checking organization NewsMeter has conclusively determined the video shows something entirely different: Muslims attending a major religious gathering called Bishwa Ijtema that took place in January 2024, months before the West Bengal elections.

The original video was posted on Instagram by content creator Dip Ghosh on January 5. In his authentic narration, Ghosh explicitly identifies the crowd as attendees of “Bishwa Ijtema 2026” and provides detailed context about the location.

“Have you ever seen so many people together? The whole area is on high alert. For the past three days, it has been like this,” Ghosh states in the original video. “The 2026 Biswa Ijtema is happening in our area. Muslims from all over the world have come here.”

Ghosh further clarifies his personal connection to the footage, explaining, “The main thing is that my house is right here. People ask me where I live. It is here, in Hooghly Puinan.”

Bishwa Ijtema, organized by the Islamic movement Tablighi Jamaat, is one of the largest annual religious gatherings for Muslims worldwide. The January 2-5 event held at Puinan in Dadpur, Hooghly district, West Bengal, reportedly attracted between five and ten million participants from across India and abroad, according to regional newspaper The Statesman.

This gathering was particularly significant as the last such event in the region had occurred in 1992 in the Howrah-Nibra area, making it a notable religious and cultural occasion for Muslims in West Bengal.

The timeline alone disproves the viral claim, as the video was recorded and shared months before any election results were announced. Nothing in the original footage references Bangladeshi nationals, migration patterns, or political developments in the state.

This incident highlights a concerning pattern of misappropriated media being used to spread misinformation that can inflame religious and political tensions. The original benign footage of a religious gathering was recontextualized to support false narratives about illegal immigration and political shifts.

Social media users, particularly those with significant followings, have been identified repeatedly sharing such unverified content. One user named in reports, who has previously distributed misleading information, helped amplify the false narrative about the video.

Fact-checkers emphasize the importance of verifying content before sharing, especially when claims involve sensitive topics like immigration, religion, and politics that could potentially exacerbate communal tensions in politically diverse regions like West Bengal.

The viral spread of this misinformation comes amid ongoing political sensitivity around migration issues in states bordering Bangladesh, where demographic changes and migration patterns often become contentious electoral topics.