At a time when the US is being accused of pulling a ‘regime change’ operation in Bangladesh, the American leftist media, CNN, which is notorious for pushing and fueling anti-India narratives has yet again published a biased article against India. In its reportage, CNN has tried to pass off the blame for the Bangladesh floods on India. It has brazened it out suggesting that India should “apologise” to Bangladesh for inundating its neighbour. 

Notably, it has done ground reportage and published an article to fuel the anti-India narrative in Bangladesh, even after the fact that New Delhi has twice debunked the falsehood and categorically noted that floods in Bangladesh have nothing to do with the opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura.  

It is important to note here that several Bangladeshis are spreading an anti-India narrative amid the floods alleging that India has deliberately opened the gates of the Dambur Hydroelectric Project in Tripura state. Apart from netizens, several media houses also alleged that India was behind the floods that have shaken Bangladesh currently. However, India has factually debunked these allegations twice.  

Now, in an apparent attempt to give legitimacy to the falsehoods being peddled by Bangladeshis, CNN has also tried to pass off the blame for the flash floods in Bangladesh on India. 

During its ground reportage from Bangladesh’s Feni district, the CNN anchor claimed, “Bangladesh has the best early warning systems, but there was no warning in this case”, because of which the Bangladeshis are blaming their neighbour for the flooding. She went further to suggest that India should issue an apology to Bangladesh saying, “India denies this…There has been no apology from India..” 

Strikingly, while peddling her falsehoods, a Bangladeshi journalist who writes for the Daily Star, Tamjidul Hoque pointed out that CNN is the first well-known international news media that arrived in Bangladesh to do ground reporting after Bangladesh Interim government leader, Mohammed Yunus invited foreign journalists to the country. 

Furthering the anti-India narrative through CNN reportage, the Bangladeshi journalist wrote, “..the (CNN) report says how water levels suddenly increased right after India released water from their dam.” 

Apart from the anti-India video reportage, CNN published an article on 27th August, titled, ‘Millions in this country are stranded by flooding. Many blame their neighbor’, to reinforce their bias and pass off the blame for the Bangladesh floods on India.

Blames India for flash floods in Bangladesh, whitewashes religious persecution of Bangladeshi Hindus: Major pointers from the anti-India CNN report

The CNN report noted that Bangladesh has been witnessing floods and cyclones in recent years because of climate change exacerbating extreme weather events but alleged that this time the flood took them by surprise and thus they “blame officials in India”.  

It then went on to allege that India didn’t warn Bangladesh about the imminent flooding. 

The report added, “Dozens of people CNN met in Feni – which is only a few miles from the India border – accused New Delhi of releasing water from the Dumbur dam in neighboring Tripura state with no warning. As we waded past their homes, some people shouted, ‘We hate India’ and ‘This is Indian water’.”

The report quoted a 29-year-old IT worker, Shoriful Islam saying, “They opened the gate, but no information was given.”

Islam added, “India used a water weapon. India is taking revenge for destroying the last government.”

While reporting about India’s clarification which categorically debunked the allegations, CNN subtly claimed that India ‘conceded’ that it “failed to warn Bangladesh citing a power outage. 

Twisting India’s response, CNN report added, “India denied the dam release was deliberate and said excessive rain was a factor – although it conceded that a power outage and communications breakdown meant they failed to issue the usual warning to neighbors downstream.”

While CNN attempted to paint India in a bad light over the recent flooding, it had to admit that the Indian state of Tripura also suffered heavy losses because of these flash floods. Incidentally, the common rivers between the two countries caused floods on both sides of the border. 

CNN reported, “In neighboring India, officials say at least 26 people have been killed, and more than 64,000 people are seeking shelter in relief camps in the Tripura region.”

Further in the article, CNN subtly alleged that “politics” played a part in India’s response to the developing situation. It stated, “Pranay Verma, India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh, told Bangladesh’s interim government an ‘automatic release’ occurred at the dam due to high water levels, according to the interim government’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam. But some believe politics played a part.” 

It then cited another student, Nahid Islam saying, “India displayed inhumanity by opening the dam without warning.” As per CNN, he is one of the two student representatives in Bangladesh’s interim government.

Apart from trying to blame India for the Bangladesh floods, the CNN article also whitewashed the ongoing religious persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh as it tried to ‘intellectualise’ it as targeted political violence meted out on Hindus for backing Sheikh Hasina.   

The article stated, “During her 15 years in power, Hasina formed strong ties with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is now serving a rare third term. After her ouster, reports emerged of reprisal attacks against people viewed as loyal to Hasina’s party – many of them Hindus – which sparked major concern in neighboring Hindu-majority India.” 

This comes at a time when it has been pointed out that the Western media has been carrying out reports to whitewash the atrocities against Bangladeshi Hindus. Incidentally, while PM Modi spoke with US President Joe Biden on the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, it was conspicuously missing from the White House’s official statement regarding the two leaders’ telephonic conversation. 

Following the publication of the article, several X users also slammed the leftist media for furthering falsehoods and fueling the anti-India narrative in Bangladesh despite India’s clarification over the issue. They also pointed towards a deep-state conspiracy to pull a regime change operation in India as well. Earlier in the day, OpIndia pointed out how an imminent fear is growing around US interference in Indian democracy.

India had already categorically debunked the baseless allegations twice

India has factually debunked the allegation that flash floods occurred in Bangladesh because India opened the dam in Tripura not once but twice. India has clarified that the gates were not opened as claimed by many including credible Bangladeshi and other nation’s media houses, but the automatic release of water due to heavy rainfall was observed. Floods in Bangladesh have created havoc.

On Thursday (22nd August), the Government of India released an official letter clarifying that floods in Bangladesh have nothing to do with the opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura. India rejected the allegations and described reports linking India with it as “factually incorrect”. 

India highlighted that flooding also caused havoc in the Indian state of India and reiterated that floods affecting shared rivers are a common issue for both countries and should be addressed through cooperative efforts.

It happened for the 2nd time on 26th August as the Foreign Ministry asserted, “Data, as per protocol, is shared with the concerned Joint River Commission officials in Bangladesh on a regular and timely basis. It has been done this time as well”, thus rubbishing the fake news about Indian link with Bangladesh floods.  

At a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addressed the issue by stating, “We have observed the spread of false videos, rumors, and fear-mongering designed to create misunderstandings. Such misinformation should be countered with factual information.”

He further explained that documents related to the Farakka Barrage have been regularly shared with the Joint River Commission officials in Bangladesh against the allegation that India didn’t give a warning to Bangladesh. 


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