At least three people have been killed in large-scale violence in West Bengal’s Murshidabad resulting from protests against the Waqf Amendment Act. While the Calcutta high court has ordered deployment of Central Armed Police Force personnel to restore normalcy in the district, the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been exchanging barbs on who is responsible for the deterioration of communal harmony in the state.
In this context, the official X handle of BJP West Bengal on April 13 shared a collage of nine images showing scenes of violence and arson. Each image has the name of a Hindu festival written on it. The tweet said, “Doesn’t matter the festival — they just need an excuse to burn it all down.” Additionally they wrote, “মমতা ব্যানার্জী-র দুধেল গাইদের শুধু একটা অজুহাতের প্রয়োজন!” (Translation: Mamata Banerjee’s milch cows just need an excuse!) (Archive)
Doesn’t matter the festival — they just need an excuse to burn it all down.
মমতা ব্যানার্জী-র দুধেল গাইদের শুধু একটা অজুহাতের প্রয়োজন! pic.twitter.com/Y5PL51NXnW
— BJP West Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) April 13, 2025
Fact Check
For the ease of the readers’ understanding of the fact check, we have numbered the images.
Image 1
The first image in the collage (attached below) shows a skull-capped man throwing his arms up as a car is seen in flames in front of him. The text ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ is superimposed on the image, implying that the violence took place in West Bengal during Ganesh Chaturthi.
A reverse image search of this image led us to several news reports from December 2019. According to the reports, the photo shows a man agitating against the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which has now become the Citizenship Amendment Act, at Santragachi in Howrah district of West Bengal. The image has been attributed to news agency PTI.
At the time, protests over the amended Citizenship Act were held in various parts of Bengal and sporadic incidents of violence were reported from Nadia, Birbhum, North 24 Parganas and Howrah districts, where agitators blocked thoroughfares, setting fire to tyres and wooden logs on the street and ransacked shops. A report by The Print and The Free Press Journal from the time also used the same image, both attributing the image to PTI.
Hence, the image used by the BJP West Bengal to show communal unrest during Ganesh Chaturthi in the state is actually from an anti-CAA protest in Santragachi in Howrah district in 2019.
Images 2 and 8
The second image of the collage shows a vehicle on fire and a group of demonstrators standing by. The text ‘Saraswati Puja’ is superimposed on the image. This implies that the image shows violence orchestrated by the state government in West Bengal.
Upon a reverse image search of the image, we found that it was used in several news reports in December 2019 during the intense anti-CAA protests. This particular image was used by Times Now in a report dated December 23, 2019. The caption on the image reads, “Anti-CAA protests turned violent in Lucknow on December 19 | Photo Credit: PTI”. According to the Times Now report, the violence that broke out in Lucknow during the demonstrations left one person dead. The police nabbed Popular Front of India (PFI) UP head Wasim and his two close aides for their alleged role in masterminding the violence. The same image had been used by India Today in their reportage of the same incident.
The Times of India used different images from the same demonstration dated December 19, attributing them to AP.
Interestingly, this is the eighth image in the collage, that BJP claimed showed Dasshera in West Bengal.
Hence, two images shared by BJP West Bbengal claiming to show violence during Saraswati Puja and Dassehra are visuals of anti-CAA protests in Lucknow.
Image 3
The third image shows several bicycles on fire. The text superimposed on it reads Ram Navami implying that these are visuals from West Bengal on Ram Navami.
We cross-checked this and found that this was indeed an image from Ram Navami violence in West Bengal’s Howrah city in 2023, where several vehicles were torched and shops were ransacked. A Deccan Herald report dated March 30 used the image and attributed it to news agency PTI.
The same image had been used by Outlook India, News 18 India and India Today in their reports about the Ram Navami violence that broke out in West Bengal in 2023.
Image 4
The fourth image in the collage depicts a vehicle set ablaze and debris scattered across the ground, with a masked individual standing nearby. The image is captioned ‘Holi,’ suggesting that this scene represents the situation in West Bengal during the festival of colours.
Upon a reverse image search, we found that the image was used in a December 29, 2019, Indian Express report and was captured by Vishal Srivastav. According to the caption, the image shows a police vehicle torched by anti-CAA protesters in Lucknow the preceding week.
The image has also been used here, here and here.
A similar image had been captured by news agency PTI and was used by The Economic Times.
So, yet another image from an anti-CAA protest in 2019 in Lucknow was used out of context by BJP West Bengal with the claim that it showed Holi violence in West Bengal.
Image 5
The fifth image in the collage shows a man dressed in white being carried by a group of people, while a fire rage around them. The image is captioned ‘Diwali,’ implying that the scene was captured in West Bengal during the Hindu festival.
Upon a reverse image search of the image, we found several reports (here, here) by The Hindu from December 2019 carrying the image. According to its caption, the image shows former Mangaluru mayor K Ashraf, who was injured during anti-CAA demonstrations, being taken to safety on December 19. The image was also used by the Frontline magazine in a report dated January 3, 2020.
To sum sup, the image that BJP West Bengal claims is from Diwali in West Bengal, is actually from Mangaluru. It was clicked in 2019.
Image 6
The sixth image in the collage shows a group of men standing on a street even as fires rage around them. The image is captioned ‘Durga Puja,’ implying that it was taken in West Bengal during the festival.
Upon a reverse image search, we found that the image was an Indian Express photo from December 2019. According to a report carrying the image, it shows the violence that had erupted at Kona Expressway in connection with anti-CAA at Howrah, West Bengal on December 14, 2019. The image has been used in several Indian Express reports hence (read here, here and here).
In other words, the image shared by BJP West Bengal as a scene of communal violence during Durga Puja in Bengal is actually from a 2019 anti-CAA protest in the state.
Image 7
The seventh image in the collage depicts another instance of alleged arson, with a crowd of masked demonstrators surrounding a blaze. The image is captioned ‘Hanuman Jayanti,’ implying that the scene is from West Bengal during the festival.
Upon a reverse image search of the image, we found an Indian Express report from December 29, 2019, about Trinamool Congress leaders handing over cheques to the kin of victims after anti-CAA protests in Mangaluru had claimed the lives of two individuals. The report carries the image above and the caption says, “Demonstrators throw stones towards police during a protest against a new citizenship law, in Mangaluru, December 19, 2019.” It has been attributed to Reuters.
We were able to locate the image in a Reuters report from the same day, December 19, 2019. A report titled, “Violent protests over citizenship law leave two dead in Mangaluru” carried the image.
So, the image shared by BJP West Bengal as Hanuman Jayanti violence in Bengal is actually from an anti-CAA protest in Mangaluru.
Image 9
The ninth and final image shows demonstrators setting a vehicle on fire, with the word ‘Sankranti’ superimposed on it — implying, one can surmise, that the scene is from West Bengal during the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti.
Upon a reverse image search, we found a Deccan Herald report from December 13, 2019, about the anti-CAA protests in Assam containing the same image. The reports mentioned that three lives were lost and several people were injured in police firing and violence as the situation in Assam, which witnessed violent protests against the citizenship laws, intensified. The caption of the image said protesters burned machinery to block a road during an agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Guwahati on December 12. The image had been attributed to news agency PTI.
The photo had been used by India Today in a similar report from December 16, 2019.
As it stands, a photo collage shared by the official handle of BJP West Bengal featuring nine images purportedly depicting violence during Hindu festivals in the state is largely misleading. Only one of the images is from a Hindu festival in Bengal. All the other photos have been falsely used.
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