Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) on Saturday responded to an audio tape which was released by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and claimed that he spoke about the alleged corruption within the DMK party with a journalist. Terming the audio clip as 'malicious, fabricated', he pointed out that anyone can make such fake audio clips with the help of technology.
An alleged audio of the minister sharing the secrets of the DMK president MK Stalin's son Udhaynidhi and Sabareesan was shared by the Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on his official Twitter handle. PTR attached screenshots of the audio clip's analysis from the forensic department. He claimed these audio clips to be fake.
In a two-page letter, PTR wrote how 'One's values should change because of his or her role in power or opposition.'
"I am forced to react at this juncture because one social media post has now been rebroadcast to lamentable proportions," he said in the statement.
He further concluded by stating, "With the ability to create fabricated and/or machine-generated clips using advanced technology that is easily accessible, we will not be surprised to see more audio and even video clips in the coming days and months with ever more malicious content."
Taking a jibe at Annamalai, he said he urged politicians to make allegations based on first-hand report. "I urge responsible politicians, and the traditional media which ought to function as an upholder of democracy, to only make allegations with, or report on, first-hand information, or at least authenticated and validated second-hand information from known sources. The traction gained by re-broadcasting publicly discredited third-hand click-bait may carer well to the financial viability of online platforms, but it corrodes the stature of the traditional media in a democracy."
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