Old video of Naga sadhus in India shared as 'rally for Hindus' in Bangladesh

What is the claim?

A video claiming to show Naga sadhus (Hindu ascetics) mobilizing to protect members of the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh has gone viral. The caption shared with the video reads, “Our Naga Sadhus have come to the aid of Bangladeshi Hindus... warning to crush Bangladesh… (sic).”

The video was shared by a user on X (formerly Twitter) and has garnered over 95,000 views, 2,200 reshares, and 7,500 likes as of publication. The same video has been circulated on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, perpetuating the same claim.

Screenshots of the viral video on social media. (Source: X/ YouTube/Modified by Logically Facts)

This follows reports of violence targeting Bangladeshi Hindus amid recent unrest in the country.

However, the video in question is from the 2021 Kumbh Mela in Haridwar and is unrelated to the current events in Bangladesh.

What we found

Upon conducting a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video, we traced it back to a YouTube video (archived here) from March 13, 2021. The video, titled ‘First Sahi Snan Naga Baba 2021 Mahakumbh Haridwar,’ was posted by the channel ‘Naveen Binjola,’ confirming that the footage is three years old.

Matching visuals from the viral video and the 2021 video. (Source: X/YouTube)

We also identified the shops visible in the video—‘Ishwar Khadi Kambal Bhandar’ and ‘Shri Neelkanth Khadi Bhandar’—as located on Upper Road in Haridwar, which we verified using Google Maps.

Screenshot from Google Maps featuring the shops that appear in the viral video. (Source: Google Maps)

According to an NDTV report, the first ‘royal bath’ (Shahi Snan) of the 2021 Haridwar Kumbh Mela took place on March 11, 2021. On this occasion, only sadhus, including the Naga sadhus, bathe in the Ganges, a river considered sacred in Hinduism.

We also discovered several videos uploaded in March 2021 on Facebook and YouTube that feature similar visuals of Naga sadhus heading to Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar for the first royal bath of the 2021 Mahakumbh. These videos can be viewed here (archived here), here (archived here), and here (archived here).

It is worth noting that, in light of the recent violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, some sadhus and seers have publicly voiced their concerns and called on the Indian government to take decisive action.

Unrest in Bangladesh

The United Nations Human Rights Office recently reported approximately 650 deaths following months of unrest in Bangladesh. What began as student protests over a quota system has escalated into broader anti-government demonstrations.

Reports of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh have sparked concerns in neighboring India, prompting reassurances from Muhammad Yunus, who assumed leadership from Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.

The verdict

Our investigation has confirmed that the video depicting Naga sadhus, originally filmed during the 2021 Kumbh Mela in India's Haridwar, has been falsely linked to the recent unrest in Bangladesh.

Logically Facts continues to debunk misinformation related to the violence in Bangladesh. You can explore more of our fact-checks here.

(Translated by Vanita Ganesh.)