Amid devastating floods in Assam, a misinformation campaign targeted at the Muslims has tried to give a new connotation to the calamity.
Basil Islam | TwoCircles.net
NEW DELHI — Floods and landslides on the Brahmaputra basins in north-eastern state of Assam continue to be devastating, with the death toll reaching 197. Since June 21, more than 44 villages went underwater, and 210 hectares of farmland have been damaged. Around 2.7 lakh people have been evacuated and moved to relief camps. Amidst the disaster, a misinformation campaign targeted at the Muslims has tried to give a new connotation to the calamity. The flooding at Silchar has been termed as part of the “flood jihad.”
The breach happened in a Muslim-majority area called Bethukandi – and it was one of several contributing factors to heavy floods in Silchar, which is majority Hindu. The state administration has been raising and reinforcing embankments in different basins to control the water flow and use it for agricultural purposes. Following the incident, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the unprecedented flooding of Silchar was man-made. Subsequently, the police arrested four people – Kabul Khan, Mithu Hussain Laskar, Nazir Hussian Laskar and Ripon Khan and charged them with the destruction of public property. They were released after serving 15 days due to a lack of evidence. However, social media went frenzy after the arrests, claiming that it was a terrorist attack by pointing out the Muslim names. According to Google Trends, “flood jihad” searches hit a five-year peak in July.
This heavy amount of misinformation and targeting happened while the police insisted the media not spread rumours on “flood jihad”. “We have not even heard of the word “flood jihad” in our investigation. These narratives are very dangerous as they have the power to harm the peaceful fabric of Silchar’s society. I urge media houses to refrain from giving this a communal angle. No community has ever intentionally damaged government property in this manner to aggravate communal tension,” Silchar SP Ramandeep Kaur told media.
Muslim men live in fear
Though acquitted from the charges by the police, Muslim men picked up in the case continue to live in fear of getting attacked. “My family and I are still afraid to leave the house. My children have been skipping school. If I must leave the house, I sometimes wear a helmet to hide my face. I am afraid of being lynched by an angry mob. I was accused of ‘flood jihad’ because I am a Muslim. This is false. Those who are spreading this are doing something very wrong,” Nazir Hussain Laskar told BBC.
Basil Islam is an independent journalist and researcher based in South India. He tweets at @baasiie