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Fake News: Muslims vandalise Goddess Kali’s idol in Bangladesh

A viral video showing Muslims vandalising Hindu Goddess Kali’s idol in Bangladesh after Fact Check Analysis is found to be of an idol replacement ceremony in a West Bengal temple, and is thus a fake news

Thursday December 5, 2024 7:37 PM, Fact Check by Factly

Amid reports (here & here) of violence against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh, including attacks on their religious places, a video (here, here, & here) of people allegedly removing the head of Hindu Goddess Kali’s idol has been widely shared on social media with the claim that it depicts Muslims vandalising the Hindu Goddess idol in Bangladesh.

Claim

Muslims vandalising Goddess Kali’s idol in Bangladesh.

Fact

The video was filmed at the Kali temple in Sultanpur village, located in West Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district. It shows devotees dismantling Goddess Kali’s idol for immersion, which took place on 26 November 2024. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

A reverse image search of the viral video led us to extended and earlier uploads (here, here, here & here) of the same video on social media platforms, which mention that it shows the process of dismantling Hindu Goddess Kali’s idol for immersion, carried out at the Kali temple in Sultanpur village of West Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district.

The event organiser, Sultanpur Kiranmoyi Library, also uploaded the event’s visuals on its Facebook page.

Taking a cue from this, we conducted further searches and found local media reports (here & here) covering the event.

According to these reports, this is an ancient ritual organized by the Mondal family in which the Goddess Kali idol is regularly worshipped at this temple. The idol is immersed every 12 years, after which a new idol is installed. On 26 November 2024, this idol was dismantled and immersed in a nearby pond.

Moreover, a comparison of the visuals from the Facebook videos of the Kali Temple with those from Google Street View further confirms that the temple is in Sultanpur, West Bengal, and not in Bangladesh.

Additionally, we contacted Debashish Mondal, a member of the organizing body, the Sultanpur Kali Puja Committee. He confirmed that the video was taken during the immersion ceremony at the Kali temple in Sultanpur village on 26 November 2024. He further explained that the size and weight of the idol prevent it from being immersed as a single piece, which is why it is dismantled. He also dismissed any communal angle related to the video.

To sum up, an unrelated video from West Bengal falsely shared as Goddess Kali Idol was vandalised in Bangladesh.

[This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by ummid.com as part of the Shakti Collective.]

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