Muslim social media users from several countries are sharing tweets calling for the boycott of Indian products, alleging atrocities on Muslims in the country. Muslim netizens, many of them from Pakistan and Gulf countries, are sharing images and videos alleging Muslims being attacked by the majority of Hindus in India, trying to build the narrative that Muslims are not safe in India. They are posting such tweets with the hashtag #BoycottIndianProducts. However, at least one such video has no communal angle.
The online campaign was triggered by the recent incidents in Assam when an eviction drive against illegal encroachment by Bangladesh origin Muslims had turned violent. Along with the visuals of the incident, Muslims mainly from Pakistan also shared several other images and videos from past incidents, claiming that they are from attacks on Muslims by Hindus. But in an eagerness to spread the anti-India campaign, the social media users also shared incidents that had no communal angle like they were claiming.
For example, one Twitter user with the name Zia Khan shared a video that showed a man beaten up by others by sticks. While Zia Khan shared the video as an example of alleged atrocities on Muslims by Hindus in India, the fact is that, even though the incident is from India, both the victims and the attackers were Muslims.
The incident seen in the video took place in July last year in Siddharthnagar in Uttar Pradesh. The same video was shared by a journalist named Prashant Shukla. Replying to the tweet, Siddharthnagar Police had informed that the incident was the result of quarrel between kids of the victim and the accused, where one Ijaz and his family members were beaten by Istekhar, Anwar Raja, Mohammed Kaleem and Haleem.
Later Prashant Shukla had shared a video where victim Ijaz was naming the people who had attacked him and his family. His statement confirms that he was attacked by Muslims.
This makes it clear that a Muslim man was beaten by four Muslims in a dispute that started with a quarrel among their children, and it was not an incident of Hindus attacking Muslims. In fact, the incident had no communal angle at all.
But this incident has been used by Islamists on social media to run an anti-India campaign.
