Mir Abdul Alim

We are Bengalis. floating in rumours. Someone is saying that he is on vacation. Recently, the 'Facebook' rumor has caught fire in the country. When someone writes something, the whole country starts uproar. Thanks to the progress of science, mobile phone and internet are now in the hands of people. Although communication has a positive impact on life, the amount of damage is not less. Rumors spreading false information in the cyber world have caused a lot of damage. Especially in Bangladesh, the cyber criminals are taking advantage of the unaware and ignorant people by spreading rumours. Rumors about the loss of the country; Not stopping.

The law and order forces of the country should take a strict stance against spreading rumours. They also have to take the responsibility of convincing the people. Rumors have turned into deadly social ills. Rumors can be remedied only through awareness and strict enforcement of laws. It may not solve the situation completely, but it will improve considerably.

Rumors have killed many people in this country. A person who dies as a victim of rumours, does not know for what crime he was killed. And those who are beating do not know why they are beating him. In this way innocent people are sometimes beaten and sometimes burnt to death without considering the truth or falsity of any incident based on rumours. If rumours, hoaxes, illusions, senselessness, stupidity, stupidity, unjust killings, injustice and falsehood etc. are not prevented in the cyber world, the loss of the country and the individual is inevitable.

Rumors all around. Everyone is spreading rumors for various interests including personal interest, political interest. Which is frightening the people of the country. In our favorite poet Shamsur Rahman's 'Pandashram' poem, the poet wrote - 'Ei Niache Oi Nil Ja! Chille has listened, / we are all dying behind Chille'. The condition of the people of Bangladesh has also been the same. I don't think it is customary to spread rumors like this in any country in the world.

If you enter Facebook, YouTube and other social media, you can see the spread of rumours. Cyber analysts say there are two types of rumours. 1. Without interest, which happens unintentionally. These rumors are spread without understanding. Which is not disseminated with intent to cause any crime or disorder. 2. These rumors are spread with the aim of creating anarchy, crime and anarchy. We see people turning sesame into palm. Due to this tendency there is unrest in the country.

Rumors destroy people, let alone countries. Rumors drag the situation of the society towards further crisis at any moment. Bangla Khabi is a popular word. The history of rumor spreading is not new in Bangladesh. The most recent rumor is that on October 8, the news emerged that Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the government, had resigned at midnight. Not only that, the army had surrounded his residence 'Yamuna'. Army and disgruntled army personnel also questioned him on various issues. He even had an argument with the army chief. An account called Mufassil Islam appeared to be posting several posts on social media about rumors of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus' resignation.

It has been claimed that the Chief Adviser hatched a plan to replace Army Chief Waqar-uz-Zaman and later the Army Chief came to know about it. This created anger among the soldiers. It is claimed in various posts on social media that there have been many good and bad talks between the army chief and Yunus about this. State Guest House Jamuna. The meeting of the senior officers of the army is going on around Yunus. Angry army officers are interrogating Yunus on various issues.

But no such claim has been found to be true. It was all rumours. Another 'rumor' in the media in the recent past is that the ousted Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, is not in India, but now in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He went to the house of the discussed-criticized MP Shamim Osman. The countrymen have also believed it. But this too was not true. Rather, the information that several Indian government officials have given to various international media is baseless. According to various media sources in Delhi, Sheikh Hasina is here this week as she was last week. India's Ministry of External Affairs and Home Affairs also gave such information. Apart from this, some rumors regarding breaking of temples and idols have also surfaced around Durga Puja.

After the Sitakunda tragedy in Chittagong, we are still hearing rumors of hydrogen peroxide mixing in the air to create acid rain. Readers, surely you remember that Padma Bridge will require blood and skulls. Panic from this; Kidnapping and gang beating. A situation in the country! Innocent people are dying in front of our eyes. Shame on you.

To remove this fear, the administration has gone to various educational institutions for counseling students. At every place I asked the students - 'Have any of your friends, relatives been taken away by a boy? Someone's head has been cut off?' No one could answer yes. I said - 'You are living in the modern era. Why are you listening to rumors?' I was also saying - does it take brains and blood to build a bridge? I was giving the answer myself, telling the students - 'A bridge needs good quality rods, cement, sand, concrete.

And it takes the brain of the human head. And how much human sweaty labor it takes. Why is there a need for blood and human heads? I said to the students - your education will stop due to such bad fear and rumours. You will fall behind in studies. And maybe that's what the rumor mills want. I said you live in the modern age believe it or not? All said 'No' in one sentence. When I understood, everyone understood. We Bengalis are as simple as simple, negative and positive at the same time! Just need to understand.We Bengalis are as simple as simple, negative and positive at the same time! Just need to understand. We who are conscious people have to do this teaching or counseling work all the time. Then the evil circle will not be able to spread rumours.

Rumors are lies. This rumor can cause a terrible disaster by spreading confusion in the society. There Satya becomes helpless. Currently, the people of the whole country are in fear due to the horror of various rumours. The death march and mass beating of innocent people has been going on for a long time. A housewife named Renu was lynched while fetching chips for her daughter in Badda. Renu's little daughter is still waiting for her mother. Will his doting mother bring him chips? I hope this little girl's wait never ends. His mother, brutally killed in the massacre, will never return. What will we answer you? We don't have the language to answer. We are very ashamed of this.

In Narayanganj, they also beat up Siraj, a speech-impaired young man. Siraj's wife, who is said to be disabled, ran away with her older daughter a few years ago. Siraj is looking for a dear girl. Didn't get the girl. Finally found out whether the girl with the pieces of her liver is in Narayanganj. Siraj came to Narayanganj to see his daughter with chips and dolls. What happened next was horrible. This Siraj was also beaten to death by some barbaric murderers.

They might kill me one day by spreading rumours. In such a mass beating, my soul may be lost in the blue sky while crying. It will prove that I am not a boy like disabled Siraj. I am not here to kill anyone for Padma Setu. On that day I will be buried in the family cemetery. We die of shame. We are very ashamed. Disabled Siraj is also not safe in this country. We sometimes blame the government for disappearances and murders.Where are we less people? How many murders are happening all over the country. People are killing people. People are being killed for land, for money and for various reasons. Shame, I feel great shame thinking about it.

I have always seen the rumor of Hujug in Bangladesh. The stock robbers have looted 27 thousand crores of stock market under the influence of Hujug.  The dervish father himself uttered such rants. It is not new in this country. Always happening. Innocent people are losing everything. However, they rush to the stock market again and again. There is no shame in telling them. This is where I feel great shame.

We know about rumors not only in Bangladesh but everywhere in the world. Can be seen spreading. Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia - where there is no rumor? There are no rumors about dead Michael Jackson. He is alive, and has been seen roaming the streets of Paris. Such rumors have recently spread even in developed countries. What has happened in the world with the corona virus. The biggest rumor at the time of the outbreak was that people in China ate bat soup, which is why the virus spread. Earlier, when rumors of death of Nobel laureate Bengali economist Amartya Sen spread on social media, many people started expressing grief.

Rumors are everywhere at home and abroad. However, this trend is very high in Bangladesh. Information technology experts say that the amount of rumors has increased in Bangladesh in the last two months. They identified one reason for the increase in rumours.

According to them, for a long time the people of Bangladesh did not get freedom of speech and the media could not work independently. Then common people lost trust in regular media. People's dependence on social media for information has increased during this long time. That's why people want to believe what they see on social media. Rumors were rife before. Then it did not spread across the country. lived within territorial boundaries. In this modern age, rumors spread within a moment in the country and abroad. Social media has become the main medium for spreading rumours. It cannot be denied that rumors exist in all societies. In Bangladesh, its roots are very deep, so the proverb 'chile kan neya' was born in Bengali language. We have seen in recent times how terrible rumors can become in political and communal spheres. And in 2016 in Brahmanbaria and in 2017 in Rangpur, there were attacks on houses of the minority Hindu community due to rumours. As we have seen, social media has been used in each of these cases.

Admittedly, social media has many positive contributions as well. Besides, there are many harmful sides of social media. As it brings people closer across geographical distances, it also creates negative initiatives on social and cultural issues. Which leads to murder. Rumors are something that can be easily created and spread.

Once a rumor gets going, it becomes very difficult to deal with it. There is no alternative to creating public awareness in this regard. Along with the government and administration of the country, citizens with good sense should also come forward. People need to understand reality against gossip. More importantly, it cannot be considered prudent to spread any news on social media without checking it as soon as you hear it.

Govt needs to rethink against rumours. A new law must be made. They should be identified and brought under the law. We hope that the government will be more strict in this regard. Apart from this, the people will also be more careful and aware not to walk on the path of rumors after seeing this. We need to be aware and diligent in preventing rumors so that people don't lose their valuable time, money and honor chasing rumours.

The writer is a, Journalist, Social Researcher, Secretary General-Columnist Forum of Bangladesh.