Statement regarding ‘Gour Govinda’ made by Labour Party chairman, not Jamaat-e-Islami MP
A video clip of a speech has recently been circulated across multiple social media platforms. Along with the clip, the claim in the post is that a Jamaat-e-Islami member of parliament said, “Just like Gour Govinda fled, Hindus will flee from West Bengal too.” However, a fact-check by Dismislab found that the speaker in the video is not a Jamaat-e-Islami member of parliament. The speaker is Dr Mostafizur Rahman Iran, chairman of the Bangladesh Labour Party, and he is not a member of parliament.
A 25-second video was posted by an X account named Voice of BD Hindus at 9:18pm Bangladesh time on July 3. The account claims to be operated from Bangladesh. However, its “About” section indicates that it is operated from the United States.
The post’s caption reads: “West Bengal belongs to Huseyn Suhrawardy & AK Fazlul Huq! We are the successors of Shah Jalal. Just like Gour Govinda fled, Hindus will flee from West Bengal too. Jamaat MP’s clear warning from the rally. ”
In the video, the speaker can be heard saying: “That West Bengal was governed by Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq. It was governed by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. We are their successors. We are the successors of Hazrat Shah Jalal. Gour Gobinda fled. You, too, will have no existence.” However, he did not mention “Hindu community” or “Hindus” in his remarks.
At the time of writing this report, the post had been shared more than 200 times, and the video had been viewed more than 13,000 times.
The same claim has also been circulated by multiple Facebook and Instagram accounts (1, 2).
A search using key frames from the video and relevant keywords found that the footage is from the divisional rally of the 11-party alliance held at Circuit House Ground in Khulna on June 20 of this year (1, 2). The person seen delivering the speech in the circulated video is Dr Mostafizur Rahman Iran, chairman of the Bangladesh Labour Party. He is not a Jamaat-e-Islami member of parliament.
A Facebook account in his name contains a video of the speech delivered at the rally. In the full 4-minute and 48-second speech, posted on June 23, Iran raises the issue of “fleeing” while speaking about the current chief minister of West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari.
Therefore, the statement referring to “Gour Govinda” was made by the chairman of the Bangladesh Labour Party, not by a Jamaat-e-Islami member of parliament.
