On May 30, Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of AltNews and a propagandist posing as a fact-checker, once again shared a manipulated video to serve his own agenda. The video featured K Annamalai, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, and was initially posted by AltNews journalist Abhishek. In the video, Annamalai is heard saying, “Who made CSK win is a BJP Karyakarta. Jadeja is a BJP Karyakarta, his wife is a BJP MLA, and he is from Gujarat.” The video was shared without any context or the background of the entire conversation.
Script by @niiravmodi 😒 ⁉️ https://t.co/BhRU72CTw5
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 30, 2023
Mohammed Zubair and his fellow colleague, insinuated that Annamalai was attributing the victory of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in cricket to the BJP. The intention was to make it seem like Annamalai was crediting a political party for a sporting win. However, the truth behind the video, which is often the case with Zubair and his team, was quite different. A longer version of the video shared by netizens reveals that Annamalai was not claiming credit for CSK’s win but was responding to the politicization of the victory by the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, DMK.
The Truth
CSK led by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the match against Gujarat Titans by five wickets after Ravindra Jadeja hit a last-ball four to successfully chase down the revised target of 171 in a rain affected match.
During a discussion on News18, the anchor asked Annamalai about DMK’s claim that CSK’s win was a victory of the Dravidian model over the Gujarat model, aiming to bring politics into the cricket match. Annamalai’s response was to counter this narrative by mentioning that the player who hit the winning runs for CSK, Ravindra Jadeja, is a BJP Karyakarta, and his wife is a BJP MLA. He expressed pride in both the achievements of Tamil individuals and the BJP’s involvement in the victory. Annamalai clarified that he gave a political response because he was asked a political question.
கிரிக்கெட் விளையாட்டையும் அரசியலாக்கிய திமுகவுக்கு தகுந்த பதிலடி தந்த தலைவர் @annamalai_k
டேக் திஸ் @TRBRajaa pic.twitter.com/qpvzoCDZaY
— Krishna Kumar Murugan (@ikkmurugan) May 30, 2023
Annamalai’s counter to the DMK and Dravidian media ecosystem propaganda was quoted by BJP Tamil Nadu’s official social media pages which Zubair used to justify his half-truths.
Hello @UnSubtleDesi,
The claim was was made by BJP Tamil Nadu party handle @BJP4TamilNadu 🤡
Do some basic research before writing Propaganda articles. pic.twitter.com/nlDwAJyKAr https://t.co/5TcQbtQbG3— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 31, 2023
AltNews and other news portals, such as The News Minute, The Indian Express, Financial Express, and The Lallantop, spread misinformation about Annamalai’s statement by publishing misleading headlines that misrepresented the true context and explanation of the interview.
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