Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is always surrounded with controversies, again made it to the top with the viral news that, days before election Rahul Gandhi received a heartwarming welcome from a huge crowd in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Assembly election is scheduled to be held in a single phase on April 6. The Congress, in alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), is contesting 25 seats. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visits to the poll-bound state and his attempts to connect with people from all walks of life by invoking Tamil pride and culture have been making headlines of late. Though, Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (March 28) drew an analogy between the AIADMK and the mask worn to help prevent spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, alleging it was only the RSS and BJP behind the ruling party, “a mere mask.”
In a grand public meeting here, the first in which top leaders of all parties in the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu came together, Gandhi said these days one could see people wearing masks everywhere, making recognising those behind them difficult.
In this context, two images showing a large crowd of people gathered around a van are being shared across social media with the claim that they show Tamil Nadu welcoming Rahul Gandhi.
Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim along with the images is misleading. The images in question are from DMK president MK Stalin’s election rally in Tamil Nadu on March 19, 2021. Rahul Gandhi was campaigning in Assam that day. According to the post description, the images are from a rally by Stalin, and there was no mention of Rahul being part of it. On its Facebook page, the DMK had also shared 10 more images from the same day along with the two in question. None of the images, however, featured Rahul.
On March 19, the official page of Stalin had also posted a video from the same location. The video caption in Tamil translates as, “Campaigning for votes from the people of Kinathukadavu, Sulur, Pollachi and Thondamuthur constituencies.” AFWA then contacted DMK spokesperson Manu Sundaram for clarity on the matter. Sundaram confirmed that the images in question are from Stalin’s March 19 rally at Tiruppur.
Also, on March 19 and 20, Rahul was on a two-day visit to poll-bound Assam. The Assam Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in three phases starting Saturday (March 27).
Hence, it is clear that the images in question are from a rally held by DMK president MK Stalin. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was in Assam at the time of this rally.
