A video showing a large crowd at an Islamic congregation held at West Bengal's Hooghly in January, 2026, is being circulated on social media as visuals of illegal Bangladeshi migrants leaving the state and heading toward the Hakimpur border following a regime change.
BOOM spoke to Sekh Ali, who shot the video on January 5, 2026 in West Bengal. He confirmed to BOOM that the video was shot before the West Bengal election results and shows people attending the World Ijtema held in Hooghly's Puinan in January this year.
Several news outlets recently reported that large crowds had gathered at the Hakimpur checkpost near Bangladesh border in West Bengal following a crackdown on illegal infiltrators by the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Bengal Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, had also issued a warning asking illegal infiltrators to leave the state or face strict action, the video has since surfaced amid these developments.
The Claim
The video was shared on Instagram with the caption, "Thousands of suspected illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators were reportedly seen moving towards the Hakimpur border area near Bangladesh, sparking fresh debate over border security and illegal immigration. Videos and images circulating online triggered strong political reactions, with many calling for stricter surveillance and faster action against cross-border infiltration in eastern India."
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What We Found: Video Shows People At A Muslim Religious Gathering From January
1. Video Predates Bengal Election Results: We found several posts on X asserting that the video captured scenes from the 2026 Bishwa Ijtema (World Ijtema), which took place between January 2 and 5, 2026, in Puinan village of Hooghly district, West Bengal. Taking a cue, we performed a related search and found an Instagram post by Sekh Ali from January 5, 2026, featuring the longer version of the video.
The Instagram user stated in the post that the video was recorded near a highway in the Puinan area of Hooghly district. We also found several other posts of the same gathering. To verify the location, we compared the footage with Google Street View imagery and identified matching landmarks, confirming that the video was indeed filmed at the claimed location.
2. "The Video Is from Amira More, Near Singur": For further verification, we reached out to Sekh Ali. Speaking to BOOM, Ali confirmed that he had filmed the video himself on January 5, 2026, and shared it the same day.
Ali told BOOM, “The video was recorded on my mobile phone around 12 pm to 1 pm on January 5, 2026. It captures the crowd of the World Ijtema event held between January 2 and January 5. The location visible in the footage is near Amira More adjacent to a highway, close to Singur in West Bengal.”
