Netizens have been sharing an image of a massive protest, claiming that the image is of a protest against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bangladesh ahead of his visit to the country.
PM Modi will visit Bangladesh on March 26 and 27 to attend the celebrations to mark the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of the war of liberation of Bangladesh. In its context, many social media users are sharing the above image claiming that the image is of Muslim parties protesting against PM Modi’s visit to Bangladesh. Netizens posted the photograph with the caption, “Masha Allah! Anti-Modi protest today in Dhaka by the Islamic parties”.
After a reverse image search it was found that the same image was published in a Malaysian Newspaper, New Straits Times, on October 28, 2020. The title of the article said, “Huge anti-France rally in Bangladesh as Macron backlash widens.” According to the article, Protestors marched in Dhaka in the biggest anti-France rally since President Emmanuel Macron defended cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Macron had made this statement In October ahead of a French school teacher’s beheading by a Muslim man for showing a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad while he was teaching history. The New Straits Times captioned the image as, “Members of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh party take part in a march towards the French Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh”, and attributed European Press Agency for the image(EPA).
According to the image details present on the EPA website, it was created on October 27, 2020, and is of protest in Bangladesh held by members of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh against Macron’s comments over Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
Thus, a 2020 image of a protest in Bangladesh against French president Emmanuel Macron has resurfaced with claims that it shows a huge agitation by Muslims against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to the country.
