Anti-India Islamist party promises shining Bangladesh with borrowed Indian pics
India Today Fact Check found that Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami used photographs from India in its election manifesto to showcase its vision for Bangladesh.
On February 12, Bangladeshis will vote for the first time since the violent July Revolution of 2024 that led to Sheikh Hasina’s ouster — and exile. And the top contender for the polls, according to analysts, is not the outfit that facilitated this revolution, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
It’s the Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party.
A week ahead of the polls, the Jamaat released its manifesto. In most ways, it’s a garden-variety manifesto. It promises an inclusive and ideal future for Bangladesh. However, a closer examination shows that at least eight images used in the document are from India, ironic for a party known for its anti-India rhetoric.
AI pic — that too from India
In the 90-page manifesto, an image of farmers drying harvested rice appears on page 48 to illustrate the party’s promise of affordable foodgrains. A reverse image search traced the photograph to Pexels, a stock photography platform. The image was uploaded by a user named Dibakar Roy, who tagged the location as Habra, West Bengal. His Unsplash profile identifies him as a Kolkata-based photographer from India.
That wasn’t all. On page 46, at the start of its agriculture section, the manifesto even used an AI-generated image sourced from an Indian stock photo website!
Dancing to India's tune?
In the section titled “Human Resources and Quality of Public Life Improvement”, a photograph of a traditional folk dance appears in a collage on page 53. The original image, of course, was taken at Poush Mela, an annual cultural event held in Shantiniketan, West Bengal. The Getty photograph dates back to December 25, 2013, and was shot by photographer Biswajit Dey.
In the same segment, on page 55, an image of school-going children running alongside a mustard field was used. In fact, it has repeatedly been used throughout the manifesto to project an ideal education system. The earliest version of this image was found in a 2017 Uttar Pradesh government report on child labour.
Page 62 of the manifesto features a photo of a doctor treating a child, with the parents waiting nearby. Reverse searches traced the image to the website of Sulabh Upchar Kendra, an India-based healthcare initiative focused on providing medical services in rural and underserved areas. The company, Sulabh Upchar Kendra Private Limited, was incorporated on January 21, 2026.
Similarly, page 71 — which draws plans for land management and housing — features a man walking with cows on a picturesque field. This image was originally posted to a stock photo website named 500px.com by an Indian user named Bobby Joshi, who captioned it: “Rural Landscape of India.”
Can’t make it? Just morph it
The Social Welfare section, spanning pages 81 and 82, includes images of women operating sewing machines. These visuals were traced back to ImagesBazaar.
Another image of a woman using a sewing machine in the manifesto was also sourced from ImagesBazaar. But there’s a twist: In the original photograph, the woman’s head isn’t covered. Also, there’s no Bangladeshi government logo on the sewing machine in the original.
Jamaat’s anti-India rhetoric
The Jamaat-e-Islami has long been vocal in its criticism of India. The party has repeatedly accused New Delhi of border killings, interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs and regional hegemony.
In December 2024, the party chief, Md Shafiqur Rahman, alleged that India was polarising Bangladeshi society by dividing people into pro- and anti-independence camps. He also publicly urged India to refrain from Bangladesh’s internal politics, asserting that New Delhi must clearly differentiate between cooperation and interference.
More recently, the rhetoric by Jamaat leaders has shifted, with statements focusing on issues such as sovereignty, justice and the extradition of Sheikh Hasina. Rahman, in an interview with an Indian news outlet in 2024, claimed the party was “never anti-India”.
But whatever the Jamaat leaders’ positions are, the party’s manifesto sure seems to be celebrating India — even if unintentionally.