BJP leader K. Annamalai has sharply criticized and ridiculed the state government’s official Fact Check Unit headed by self-proclaimed Dravidianist Simper Iyan Karthikeyan for acting as a propaganda arm of the ruling DMK. His comments come in the wake of a controversy involving a Scheduled Tribe (ST) student who was allegedly removed from school owing to not having a birth certificate and, consequently, an Aadhaar card.
Posting on his official X account, Annamalai stated, “Nowhere was it claimed that the student was denied admission to the school. We have only questioned about a student who was already studying in the school being sent out because they didn’t have an Aadhaar card. This is also what the student’s parents are saying. Your family-owned media outlet, Dinakaran, which published this news has also stated the same. Therefore, it’s best to stop these outdated word games from the Karunanidhi era. If there are problems within the DMK family, let them resolve it among themselves. It is highly condemnable to use the fact-checking unit, which was created with taxpayers’ money, for this purpose.”
Annamalai backed his claims by sharing the original Dinakaran report, which aligned with the version presented by the student’s parents a direct contradiction to what the Tamil Nadu Fact Check Unit later claimed. He went on to denounce the government’s counter as a deliberate peddling of misinformation under the guise of fact-checking.
மாணவரைப் பள்ளியில் சேர்க்க மறுத்தார்கள் என்று எங்குமே கூறப்படவில்லை. பள்ளியில் படித்துக் கொண்டிருந்த மாணவரை, ஆதார் கார்டு இல்லாததால், பள்ளியை விட்டு வெளியே அனுப்பியது குறித்து தான் கேள்வி எழுப்பியிருக்கிறோம். இதையேதான் மாணவரின் பெற்றோரும் கூறுகின்றனர். இந்தச் செய்தியை வெளியிட்ட… https://t.co/WKDoeyaMlc pic.twitter.com/XYNie5ahdy
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) August 12, 2025
This exchange was triggered when the Tamil Nadu government’s Fact Check Unit responded to Annamalai’s earlier post, accusing him of “spreading rumours.”
The unit claimed, “Spreading false information that a student was denied admission to a government school because they didn’t have an Aadhaar card! The student in the video has been studying at the Thiruvalluvar Government Aided School in Poonamallee, Thiruvallur district, since 2023. The claim that he was denied admission to the school is completely false. On 11.08.25 his parents took the student out of school, stating that they were going to get an Aadhaar card. Due to the delay in getting the Aadhaar card, a video was filmed at the Tahsildar’s office. However, (people are now) spreading rumors that the student was not admitted to the school. Don’t spread rumors!”
ஆதார் அட்டை இல்லாததால் அரசுப் பள்ளியில் மாணவனைச் சேர்க்க மறுத்ததாகப் பரவும் தவறான தகவல் !
காணொளியில் இடம்பெற்ற மாணவன் திருவள்ளூர் மாவட்டம் பூவிருந்தவல்லியில் திருவள்ளுவர் அரசு உதவி பெறும் பள்ளியில் 2023ல் இருந்து பயின்று வருகிறார். பள்ளியில் சேர்க்க மறுத்ததாகக் கூறும் தகவல்… https://t.co/zSreKD5W5o pic.twitter.com/9yrvmZt1eb
— TN Fact Check (@tn_factcheck) August 12, 2025
Despite this rebuttal, Annamalai’s criticism underscores a broader issue the blatant misuse of state-run platforms to control narrative, silence dissent, and shield the ruling party from legitimate scrutiny.
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