An image of a hoarding by the Congress party in Kerala is going viral on social media with a claim that the party is asking for votes in exchange for freedom to consume beef in the state.
The claim takes a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and alleges that the poster's Malayalam text translated to, "If you want to eat beef, then vote for Congress."
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)
What's the truth?: The claim is misleading. The text seen on the hoarding in Malayalam states nothing about eating beef.
The poster is from 2019, and the text on it condemns killing people for their food choices.
(We also received this query on our WhatsApp tipline.)
How did we find out the truth?: We checked for the correct translation of the Malayalam text seen on the hoarding.
The text translates to, "I want to know, people are being killed in the name of food? In this country? In this era? We don't want politics of barbarity. Let those who don't discriminate come to power."
It does not state an exchange of votes for the freedom to eat beef in the state.
On performing a reverse image search on the picture, we also found a Facebook post from 3 April 2019 that carried the same poster.
Clarification from Congress spokesperson: We reached out to Lavanya Ballal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson.
Ballal told us that the poster on the board is real and does not mention beef.
We also contacted George Lawrence, Private Secretary to President of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), K Sudhakaran who said that the poster was from 2019 and "says nothing about beef".
He translated the Malayalam text seen on the poster, which read, "I want to know, killing people in the name of food? In this land? In this era? Say no to archaic politics, say no to bigotry".
Posters of the same campaign: We noticed Kerala's Congress-led alliance United Democratic Front's (UDF) logo on the poster and checked their official Facebook page.
We found another poster from the same campaign uploaded on 3 April 2019.
The Malayalam text on this poster was about the dams in Kerala which caused the 2018 floods by suddenly releasing the water.
These posters were part of an election campaign ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Conclusion: Clearly, the claim Congress asked for votes in exchange for the freedom to eat beef is false.
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