Asian News International (ANI) and other media outlets including Hindustan Times and News18 published a cropped video of MDMK general secretary Vaiyapuri Gopalsamy alias Vaiko criticising Congress and saying that the party has betrayed Tamil Nadu.
BOOM found that in the longer version of the video, he also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a traitor. We also spoke to local Tamil news channels who confirmed to BOOM that while ANI posted a clipped video on their social media handles, the wire agency shared the full video in its official feed to subscribers, which showed Vaiko criticising Congress and Modi in the same answer.
The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) is an ally of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu; a part of the the INDIA bloc led by Congress. Vaiko was speaking at an election event in the state and post this spoke to news reporters about the controversy around the Katchatheevu island in Sri Lanka.
PM Modi, on March 31, rekindled the Katchatheevu issue, an island in Sri Lanka's Jaffna district accusing the then Indira Gandhi led Congress government of "callously" giving it away from India. Refered to as the troubled island in reports, the issue of retrieving possession of the same has been raked several times by Tamil Nadu politicians in the past. This year, Katchatheevu made news again when fishermen in TN boycotted an annual festival organised on the island to protest against Sri Lanka's growing arrests of India fisherfolk on charges of poaching. Later in March, DMK Chief MK Stalin also claimed that Katchatheevu was ceded to Sri Lanka despite protests by the DMK.
On April 3, 2024, wire agency ANI reporting on election campaigning by MDMK leaders in Tamil Nadu posted a video of party general secretary's comments around the Katchatheevu island controversy. ANI posted a 10-second clip with the text, "On the Katchatheevu issue, MDMK founder Vaiko says "Congress betrayed Tamil Nadu on every front at the time..."
Archive link
This tweet was picked up by several other media outlets including the Hindustan Times, News18 and News9 published full stories on Vaiko's comments. Hindustan Times has since deleted the story without any corrigendum or explanation.
Several BJP leaders including Union Minister Piyush Goyal also posted the same ANI video. (Archive link)
Journalist Rahul Shivshankar also posted the video on X with the text, "But then why are they even fighting the election together? Politics of convenience knows no bounds? (Archive link)
Separately, Supriya Shrinate, congress spokesperson also tweeted the comment by Vaiko, but highlighting the latter part where he criticised Modi and BJP. (Archive link)
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that in the full video, Vaiko after calling out Congress also criticicised Modi, calling him a traitor.
We first ran a reverse image search on keyframe from the video with the keywords Vaiko + Congress + DMK and found a report published by The Hindu newspaper. The report said Vaiko was speaking at an election campaign event for DMK south Chennai candidate Thamizhachi Thangapandian in Saidapet area of the city.
Using this as a cue, we ran a search on X and found a post by SunTV which showed the exact same visuals as in the ANI tweet. This video was longer than the 10 second ANI video. In this Vaiko can be heard replying to a question by a reporter about the Katchatheevu issue and says, "Congress betrayed Tamil Nadu in every front, at that time. After that, these ten years...is a testing time for Narendra Modi. He is a traitor, he betrayed Tamil Nadu, betrayed India, betrayed Sri Lanka. It is Narendra Modi..."
BOOM also reached out to a leading Tamil news channel reporter who informed us that the official feed sent by wire agency ANI to its subscribers, it incuded the full video. "The event was covered by several news channels, but the Vaiko's comments in the viral video were made after the event, when he was walking out. At this time there was no other reporter except the ANI reporter. Once we heard that Vaiko had made some strong political comments, we went to their official feed that our channel has subscribed to, downloaded the video and shared it on our social media pages," they said.
The reporter further added, "Since our reporters had not shot the video nor were they present when Vaiko made the comment, there was no way for us to access the full comment. We got it from the official ANI feed that it sends to subscribers. And that showed Vaiko criticising both the parties."
Tamil Nadu wil go to polls on April 19, 2024 as part of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in the country. Modi has been actively campaigning in the state and while accusing Congress about the Katchatheevu issue, he also slammed the DMK for having 'double standards and not safeguarding Tamil Nadu's interests'. Katchatheevu, a small over 300 metres islet, is located north-east of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and south-west of Sri Lanka's Delft island in Jaffna. Majorly used by the local fishing community from both regions, it became a point of contention between India and Sri Lanka before Independence in 1921 and was later settled by the Indira Gandhi led Congress government in 1974 and 1976 with maritime agreements settling the boundaries of the island.