A video of a protest rally overlaid with "Islam Zindabad" soundtrack has surfaced on social media which shows several Muslim protestors taking on the streets raising banners while policemen are standing guard.
The video that is claimed to be from West Bengal's Kolkata is originally from Dhaka where a protest rally was carried out against Rohingya persecution in Myanmar.
The Claim
Pakistani Canadian Journalist Tarek Fatah posted a video of Muslims taking on the streets of Kolkata raising slogans of Islam. He tweeted, "This is not Karachi, Kashmir or Kerala. No, this chant of "Islam Zindabad" is being raised in Kolkata, the capital city of Mamata Banerjee-ruled WestBengal!"
This is not Karachi, Kashmir or Kerala. No, this chant of "Islam Zindabad" is being raised in Kolkata, capital city of #MamataBanerjee-ruled #WestBengal ! pic.twitter.com/IM6KSCrrVv
— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) August 28, 2020
Fact Check
On tracing the 1 minute, 42 seconds of video footage, it was found that the protestors are marching towards Myanmar Embassy in Bangladesh's Dhaka protesting against the Rohingya persecution in Myanmar. Back in September 13, 2017, a far-right political party Islami Andolon Bangladesh carried out the rally.
On running a search, the video was revived on Facebook circulated by Bangladesh social media users with a caption stating, "State religion is Islam here and will continue to be Islam, Insha Allah. Wish of atheists cannot be fulfilled ever. If you do not like state religion Islam leave Bangla. State religion will be Islam."
Original Bengali text: "রাষ্ট্র ধর্ম ইসলাম আছে! ইসলামী থাকবে ইনশাআল্লাহ। নাস্তিকদের মনের আশা কোনদিন পূরণ হবে না।"রাষ্ট্র ধর্ম ইসলাম ভালো না লাগলে! বাংলা ছেড়ে চলে যাও। রাষ্ট্রধর্ম ইসলাম ছিল, আছে, থাকবে ইনশাআল্লাহ)"
The video also shows Muslim protestors holding placards and banners which clearly read, "Stop genocide of Rohingya Muslims", Stop Genocide in Arakan." Click here to the original video shared by the social media users of Bangladesh.
