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| - Fact Check: This is not Tamil Nadu welcoming Rahul Gandhi ahead of assembly polls
Two images showing a large crowd of people gathered around a van are being shared with the claim that they show Tamil Nadu welcoming Rahul Gandhi. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim along with the images is misleading.
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India Today Fact Check
These are images from DMK president MK Stalin's rally held on March 19. On the same day, Rahul was campaigning in Assam. However, both the parties are in alliance for Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The 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.
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.
India Today 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.
The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here and here.
AFWA probe
With the help of reverse image search, we found the two images in question uploaded on the official Facebook and Twitter pages of DMK on March 19.
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.
We also found one of the images in question carried on March 20 by an Aaj Tak report as from Stalin's election rally.
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.
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