Viral photocard falsely quotes Bangladesh Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary
A photocard circulating on Facebook falsely claims that interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s Press Secretary, Shafiqul Alam, said the deposed Awami League regime had mobilised the ‘Inqilab Moncho’ to derail the country’s February 12 national election.
The photocard began circulating on February 7, the day after Moncho supporters clashed with police near the chief adviser’s official residence during a demonstration demanding justice for slain youth leader Sharif Osman Bin Hadi.
The photocard features an image of Alam with Bangla text alleging that the Awami League, which has been barred from the polls, used the ‘Inqilab Moncho’ to orchestrate unrest. It also attributed the claim to the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing.
‘Moheuddin Howlader’, the individual account that first posted the photocard, included abusive language targeting Alam in his post in Bengali. “Shafiqul Alam is the chief adviser’s press secretary. Listening to this dustbin creeps me out every time. Their own Inqilab Moncho has now become the Awami League… However, I won’t call that a lie! Since the whole country became Awami League, the Inqilab Moncho too belongs to the Awami League,” he wrote.
At the time of this report’s writing, the post garnered more than 5,000 reactions, over 1,300 comments, and was shared nearly 200 times. It was later posted from other individual accounts (1, 2, 3). In the comments, one user wrote, “So, July (uprising) and the Awami League have become one.” Another commented, “Inqilab Moncho is now Awami League.”
No official statement from the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing supports the claim. A Dismislab review of the press secretary’s official social media accounts found no such comment either. When contacted, Alam said the statement was “false and fabricated.”
The Inqilab Moncho is a cultural platform that emerged after the 2024 mass uprising that ended the Awami League’s rule. Its spokesperson, Osman Hadi, was shot on December 12 during an election campaign in Dhaka and died at a hospital in Singapore a week later.
The Moncho held protests demanding a UN probe into the killing. They staged a sit-in protest in front of the Chief Adviser’s official residence, defying a ban, and later clashed with police in front of the Intercontinental Hotel. Police charged batons, used water cannons, and sound grenades, leaving more than 50 people injured.
The government later said it would formally request a UN investigation.
The viral photocard falsely attributes a contentious statement to the chief adviser’s press secretary. No evidence supports the claim.
