2019 video of Bangladeshis protesting Article 370 abrogation shared as recent

What's the claim?

A video of people marching with banners and chanting slogans has gone viral on social media, claiming to show Bangladeshis protesting the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir amid recent unrest in Bangladesh. An X (formerly Twitter) user sharing the clip wrote, "Now Bangladeshis are protesting against the abrogation of Article 370. Their economy is doomed, the country is burning and soon they will beg like Maldives and Pakistan but their priorities are different. Boycott Banglad (sic)." The post was viewed over 456,000 times at the time of writing the story. Archived versions of the posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The video surfaced shortly after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said that statehood will be restored in Jammu and Kashmir. Gandhi was addressing a rally in Dooru, Anantnag, South Kashmir, on September 4, 2024, alongside National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah and Member of Parliament Mian Altaf. During his speech, he assured that the opposing parties alliance would reinstate statehood once in power. Abdullah also vowed to restore Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Article 370 granted special status to the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state was divided into two Union Territories after the law was abrogated in 2019.

However, this viral video is not recent, but from 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated.

What we found

The viral clip had the Voice of America (VOA) logo in the bottom right corner. Using this clue, we found the same video, originally shared on August 6, 2019, on the Facebook account of VOA Bangla (archived here). A translation of the Bangla caption states: "Islami Andolan Bangladesh protested against the removal of Article 370, which had granted Kashmir special status, and expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people's movement." 

We also found an image on the stock photo website Alamy, depicting similar visuals as in the now-viral clip. The description also stated that the video showed a protest by the Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), a major Islamist political party in Bangladesh over the abrogation of the special status of Kashmir by India at the National Press Club in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The image featured in the stock photo website. (Source: Alamy)

The Dhaka Tribune (archived here) also shared a video on YouTube dated August 9, 2019, stating that the Muslim clerics in Bangladesh protested against the abrogation of Article 370.

On August 5, 2019, the Indian government revoked the special status granted to the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The decision saw large-scale protests in India as well as Bangladesh, in support of Kashmiris.

The verdict

A five-year-old video from 2019 is being circulated as a recent protest in Bangladesh against the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir.