FACT CHECK BY NEWSCHECKER:
Claim
Tamil BJP Chief Annamalai broke down over the party’s dismal performance in Lok Sabha Polls.
Fact
Video pre-dates the poll results, and shows Annamalai getting emotional while addressing senior citizens.
The recent Lok Sabha Polls saw the BJP failed to secure any seats in Tamil Nadu and a video circulating on social media shows the state chief Annamalai breaks down while on a dias has grabbed eyeballs on social media platforms. Many X users shared this 33-second footage, associating it with the party's poor performance in the southern state during the elections.
The video is being shared on X with the caption, “He (Annamalai) worked 24×7 for 3 years. Reached to every part of Tamil Nadu. BJP vote share is now 19% in Tamil Nadu & when he took charge it was just 8%. Tears in his eyes means a lot. But he will come back. Annamalai is the future of Tamil Nadu…” The text accompanying the video insinuates that Annamalai broke down after the BJP debacle poll result in Tamil Nadu.
However, Newschecker found that the video is actually from April 2024 and does not depict the BJP leader's reaction to the party's performance in Tamil Nadu.
Such posts can be seen here, here and here.
Fact Check/Verification
A Google Lens search on the keyframes of the viral footage of Annamalai led us to an Instagram post by the Tamil news outlet Puthiya Thalaimurai TV, dated April 17, 2024. The post featured the same clip and stated that Annamalai broke down while speaking to the elderly.
We also found the viral clip in a video by the news outlet Dinamalar, live-streamed on April 17, 2024, showing Annamalai addressing the elderly in Coimbatore.
An April 2024 report by Asianet News confirmed that the Tamil BJP Chief became emotional while speaking to senior citizens in Coimbatore. This widely shared footage was also posted on News18 Tamil Nadu's YouTube channel in April 2024.
Annamalai also shared visuals from the event on his official X account on April 17, 2024.
Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Annamalai, who contested from the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency, lost the seat to DMK's Ganapathy Rajkumar P by a margin of 1,18,068 votes.
Conclusion
We can thus conclude that an old video has been misleadingly shared to depict Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Annamalai breaking down after the party failed to win any seats in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Instagram Post By Puthiya Thalaimurai Tv, Dated April 17, 2024
YouTube Video By Dinamalar, Dated April 17, 2024
YouTube Video By News18 Tamil Nadu, Dated April 17, 2024
Report By Asianet News, Dated April 17, 2024
(Disclaimer: This story was originally published by NEWSCHECKER, and republished by India TV as part of the Shakti Collective.)
