NEW DELHI, May 6 : Animated videos shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party targeting opposition Congress and the Muslim community have evoked complaints and outrage, as the political climate in India heats up midway through its six-week long election.
The videos, shared by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on social media platforms Instagram and X over the last ten days, depict the Congress giving disproportionate benefits to India’s minority Muslim community, at the cost of certain disadvantaged tribal and Hindu caste groups.
The Congress, in a complaint to the poll watchdog Election Commission, said on Sunday that the video has been shared “clearly with an intention to wantonly provocate rioting and promote enmity between different religions.”
A set of guidelines mutually adopted by political parties for how they should conduct themselves during the election period prohibit them from creating “mutual hatred” between caste, religious or linguistic groups.
Manipulated videos on social media have also become a contentious issue in this election, such as fake videos showing top Bollywood stars criticizing the prime minister.
On Monday, the commission warned parties against the misuse of AI tools to create deep fakes and told them not to publish and circulate such videos. It also said parties had been directed to remove such content within three hours of it being brought to their notice.
Modi, the face of the Hindu-nationalist BJP, seeking a rare third consecutive term, had focused his campaign largely on his government’s performance on economic growth and welfare benefits.
But he changed tack after the first phase of voting on April 19 and his campaign speeches have since become more polarizing on religious lines, accusing Congress of planning to redistribute the wealth of the majority Hindus among minority Muslims, who he called “infiltrators” who have “more children.”
The videos shared by the BJP over the last ten days, one of which has since been taken down, illustrated the same message.
A 17-second video shared by a state unit of BJP on May 4, with over 8.5 million views, shows a character resembling Congress leader Rahul Gandhi feeding “funds” to a bird in a skullcap, which eventually pushes out from their common nest three other birds representing other disadvantaged groups.
The Congress has filed a police complaint against BJP leaders for the video, BJP’s head of information and technology Amit Malviya said on X.
“The Congress should in fact thank the BJP for taking their manifesto to the people in a manner that even they couldn’t,” he wrote.
The video has elicited outrage. Nitasha Kaul, a politics professor at London’s Westminster University said on X that the video was a “straightforward 1930s Germany style cartoon.”
In its manifesto for the elections, the Congress has promised to tackle India’s economic inequality by conducting a socio-economic caste census and extending affirmative action. It said it will ensure that minorities receive “their fair share” of education, economic and health care opportunities.
An Election Commission spokesperson, the BJP’s Malviya and Congress spokespersons did not respond to requests seeking comment.
India BJP’s election videos targeting Muslims and opposition spark outrage
https://arab.news/gregm
India BJP’s election videos targeting Muslims and opposition spark outrage
- Videos shared by BJP depict Congress giving disproportionate benefits to Muslims over tribal and Hindu groups
- Manipulated videos have become contentious issue in polls, such as fake videos of top Bollywood stars criticizing Modi
UN rights chief says air strike on hospital in Myanmar could amount to war crime, calls for investigation
- Rebel Arakan Army claims hospital hit by junta military aircraft
- US called the strike “disturbing” and said the government should cease violence against civilians
NEW YORK: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Thursday called for an investigation into an air strike on a hospital in Myanmar that killed at least 30 people, including patients. Volker Turk said such attacks may amount to a war crime.
More than 70 people were also injured in the attack which had been blamed on the country's ruling junta. The hospital is located in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, which is largely controlled by the rebel Arakan Army.
The hospital in Rakhine’s Mrauk U township was struck late on Wednesday by bombs dropped by a military aircraft, said Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the Arakan Army, which is battling the ruling junta along parts of the coastal state.
“The Mrauk U General Hospital was completely destroyed,” Khine Thu Kha told Reuters. “The high number of casualties occurred because the hospital took a direct hit.”
A junta spokesman did not respond to calls for comment.
Myanmar has been gripped by conflict since the military suppressed protests against a 2021 coup that unseated the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The 300-bed hospital was overflowing with patients at the time of the strike, said aid worker Wai Hun Aung, as most health care services across swathes of Rakhine state have been suspended amid the ongoing fighting.
“I am appalled and condemn in strongest possible terms the strikes on Rakhine hospital,” the UN’s Volker Turk said in a post on X, adding he is concerned about new waves of acute violence and fear in the country.
Hospital in ruins
On Thursday morning, the facility lay in complete ruins, with a collapsed roof, shattered columns and beams, and the bodies of victims laid out on the ground, according to images shared by Wai Hun Aung that he also posted on social media.
Reuters could not immediately verify the images.
“The remaining patients have been moved to a safe location,” he told Reuters.
Soon after he heard the sound of explosions on Wednesday night, a 23-year-old resident of Mrauk U said he rushed to the scene.
“When I arrived, the hospital was on fire,” he said, asking not to be named because of security concerns. “I saw many bodies lying around and many injured people.”
The junta, which has the only air force in Myanmar, has been increasingly using airstrikes to hit targets inside rebel-held areas.
From January to late November, the junta conducted 2,165 airstrikes, compared to 1,716 such incidents in all of 2024, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
The US State Department spokesperson said Washington was deeply concerned about the Myanmar crisis and called on the junta to allow unhindered access to humanitarian assistance, release those unjustly detained, and engage in dialogue with opposition groups.
“This is essential for a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” the official said.
Resistance groups formed since the coup have combined with major ethnic armies like the Arakan Army to take on the military, which is fighting the rebellion on multiple frontlines.
Since the breakdown of a ceasefire in 2023, the Arakan Army has pushed the military out of 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships, gaining control of an area larger than Belgium, according to an analysis published by the ISEAS — Yusof Ishak Institute.
Mrauk U township, in the north of Rakhine state, has been under the control of the Arakan Army since last year and there has been no recent fighting in the area, Khine Thu Kha said.
