A screenshot with the template of the Tamil news channel, News7 Tamil, is being shared on social media, where it has attributed a quote to Chief Minister MK Stalin.
What does the quote say?: The quote is written in both Tamil and English.
It reads: "If our victory solely depends on Hindu votes, we don't mind losing. DMK will not stoop down to the level of begging Hindus for vote."
(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)
Is this true?: The claim is false as the screenshot is fabricated.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) spokesperson confirmed to The Quint that the screenshot is "fake."
Even News7 Tamil dismissed the claim and mentioned that they did not publish such a statement.
How did we find out?: At first, we checked News7 Tamil to see if the statement was published on their channel, however did not find anything.
Upon conducting a reverse image search, we found a similar screenshot on the channel's Facebook page.
The post was from 15 February 2019. The post featured Tamil Nadu's former CM, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS).
We compared the two screenshots and found similarities.
We translated EPS's quote from Tamil to English and it said, "The families of both the Tamil Nadu soldiers who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir will be given Rs 20 lakhs in financial support!”
To verify the screenshots further, we checked whether the information on graphics matched since they are from 2019.
We checked Tata Play's website and did not find News7 Tamil as a listed channel.
A YouTube video from 3 November 2023 by channel 'Tamil TV info' stated that Tata Play had "removed" News7 Tamil.
We also verified this information with Tamil Nadu users who confirmed to us that 1546 - that is listed as the channel number for Tata Play in the viral screenshot - is no longer News7 Tamil and is now Zee Thirai.
DMK's Statement: We reached out to Rajiv Gandhi, DMK spokesperson who denied the claim and called it "fake."
News7 Tamil's Statement: Upon conducting a relevant keyword search, we came across the channel's statement on their official X account. It was published on 8 September 2023.
Conclusion: The screenshot is fabricated and is being falsely shared to claim that CM Stalin said that the DMK 'will not beg for Hindu votes'.
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