Clipped video of Annamalai’s speech is shared to falsely claim that he is promoting gun violence.
Claim
If you have a gun & the gun has bullets..& Modi orders to shoot then..just shoot and come to us. BJP will take care of you.. – BJP local leader Annamalai
Rating
Explanation
Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Annamalai is on a 5-month-long padayatra ‘En Mann En Makkal’ that started on July 28 and is scheduled to be concluded on January 11. Meanwhile, a video clip of his speech is shared in the context that he is promoting gun violence. He is heard saying “If you have a gun & the gun has bullets..& Modi orders to shoot then..just shoot and come to us. BJP will take care of you”, as the video is captioned.
Listen to Tamil Nadu’s BJP President.
He’s saying to ex servicemen that “You have Guns and Bullets. You have MODI’S PERMISSION TO FIRE at will. TN BJP WILL SAVE YOU.”
This is the kind of Politics they do. Brainwash common man to do violence while they sit atop and reap the… pic.twitter.com/Gi5qCH1eik
— Armaan (@Mehboobp1) August 8, 2023
Another tweet by a Congress supporter is found sharing the video clip with the claim that they brainwash the common man to do violence while they sit atop and reap the benefit out of every riot. This tweet mentions that he said it to an ex-serviceman.
What is the truth?
When skimming through the comment section of the viral posts, we found a user quoting a tweet from Viji Sriram. This tweet is found carrying an extended version of the viral video and it mentions that Annamalai said those words to the soldiers in the borders to not worry about their family here. And this video was said to have been recorded during the condemnation meeting which was held for Lance Naik Prabhu’s death.
https://twitter.com/sriramchennai07/status/1689006960765517825?s=46&t=kIszbQH_arRSG8kPbuGeZw
The extended version of the viral video is also found uploaded on 21, February 2023 on Nba24x7 Youtube channel. Annamalai is seen saying in this video that a cheque for Rs.10 lakhs is given to the wife of Prabhu and in addition to that education of his two children will be taken care of by BJP. He also pointed out that the party or their partymen will do it even if the TN government is not doing it.
After talking about all this, he goes on to say “Why are we doing it? We are conveying a strong message to all the soldiers on the border that we are with you even if the government is not with you. If you have a gun with you and if it has bullets, and if there is Modi to order you can just proceed shooting and the rest of it will be taken care of by BJP in Tamil Nadu”. He further goes on to talk about soldiers in the Indian Army and BJP’s support to Prabhu’s family.
Youturn also covered in detail the incident of Army soldier Prabhu’s death while reporting the speech of a BJP National General Committee member. Annamalai’s speech is from the protest rally organised by BJP in February after the death of the Indian army jawan Prabhu.
YouTurn also fact-checked and published an article in Tamil when the same claim was circulated earlier in February 2023.
Conclusion
It is found that a clipped portion of Annamalai’s speech from the protest rally against the death of the Indian army jawan in a personal clash is shared with misleading claims.
