Fake social media campaign #BoycottIndianProducts aims to undermine India’s ties to the Arab world

ANI |
Update: 03 October 2021 08:38 STI
New Delhi / Doha, [India/Qatar] October 03 (ANI): A social media campaign #BoycottIndianProducts, which has become a trending hashtag on Twitter in recent days, aims to undermine India’s bilateral relations with the Middle East and damage its image. international scale.
The Indian Embassy in Doha reacted to the campaign and called it malicious.
On September 29, the embassy said in a tweet: “There is a malicious attempt on social media to spread hatred and discord through false propaganda against India. We urge everyone to be cautious and not to fall victim to fake nicknames, propaganda, doctored videos. All Indian nationals are advised to maintain unity and harmony. “
There is a malicious attempt on social media to spread hatred and discord through bogus propaganda on India. We urge everyone to be cautious and not to fall victim to fake nicknames, propaganda, doctored videos. All Indian nationals are advised to maintain unity and harmony.
– India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) September 28, 2021
A recent report from the Disinfo Lab found that the way the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), a religious and radical organization based in Qatar launched the campaign against India and was further pushed by the Qatar-Turkey and Pakistan nexus.
However, the #BoycottIndianProducts boycott campaign was not the first time the link was used to target New Delhi’s economic interests. The campaign had been running since 2018 and used annually (January 2018, February 2019, and September 2020) until 2021. This year, the malicious campaign began a few days ago and has continued as an annual ritual ever since.
“The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) inaugurated the #BoycottIndiaProducts campaign, all supplemented with an overwhelming amount of fake news. The campaign was also encouraged by several ‘media’ including Al Jazeera, Arabi21, Al-Araby, Al-Istikal , all affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The link also gave a projection of how the boycott campaign was sparked by the recent incident in Assam, “the Disinfo Lab findings revealed.
Several influential MB leaders waged the boycott campaign attacking India by circulating information and videos already proven to be false by fact-checkers and verified media.
Coincidentally, this is the same link that led a similar campaign against France last year and called for a boycott of French goods.
The report explains how the Qatar-Turkey-Pakistan (QTP) link with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) blessing is trying to become a new hub for radical Islamists. Saudi Arabia declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group in 2014 and also led a campaign to denounce the radical group in 2020.
The QTP link also targeted Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in particular Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) for maintaining good relations with India. The same link targets Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, questioning their “right” to be the leader of the Islamic world.
“The idea is obvious – by discrediting MBS, Turkey’s leader Erdogan would be crowned as the rightful leader of the Ummah.”
By carrying out such boycott campaigns on social media, these countries have used it as a tactical ploy to take center stage in the Islamic world.
“And once the QTP link takes center stage in the Islamic world, it would create an exclusionary economy of gigantic proportions. The economic power created by the nexus will not only affect the Muslim world, but dictate conditions around the world – in the name of welcoming this huge market, ”the report said.
The report also indicated how Pakistan has put all its might in the information war against India by profiting from such campaigns. Several Pakistani computer cell and troll accounts have taken advantage of the campaign to slander India and create a good image of Pakistan by boycotting Indian food products and promoting their own on Twitter.
The Disinfo lab noted that troll groups like @WeareTeamGP, @EmergingTeam, @WeTeamISP_, @WEareISPIANS, @WeAreVOIK are the key groups pushing Pakistani rice on social media.
In recent years, India’s bilateral and trade relations with the Arab world have grown considerably. At the Dubai Expo 2020, around 15 Indian states and nine central ministries are participating, showing the emergence of the “New India” to the world.
Indian conglomerates and global companies including Tata Group, Reliance, Adani, Vedanta, Hinduja Group and L&T participate extensively in Expo 2020 Dubai.
The recent bogus #BoycottIndianProducts campaign is a “deliberate attempt to harm India’s trade relations with the Arab world”. (ANI)