CHENNAI: Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Saturday said in a statement that the purported audio clip attributed to him which went viral on social media was fabricated. Forensic analysis proved it a clear case of manipulation by cutting and pasting several clips to defame him and the DMK, he said.
“Whatever I am and whatever I have done in public life is because of my leader, DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin. No malicious attempt to divide us will ever succeed,” Thiaga Rajan said.“With the ability to create fabricated and machine-generated clips using easily accessible technology, we should not be surprised if we see more audio or video clips in the coming days with even-more malicious content,” he added.
Thiaga Rajan said he never had filed a police complaint, leave alone a defamation suit, for personal attacks except for filing an FIR when he was the opposition MLA when slanderous statements were made about his ancestors.
“During the past two years as minister, I never reacted to any serious allegations made against me. However, I am forced to react at this juncture because one social media post has now been rebroadcast to lamentable proportions. It has been repeated and amplified by unscrupulous political players,” he said.
Thiaga Rajan said this would be his only statement on the issue and he would go back to ignoring such malicious slander. “I urge responsible politicians and traditional media, which ought to function as an upholder of democracy, to make allegations with first-hand information or at least authenticated and validated secondhand information from known sources..... such diversions help no one and only hinder our ability to have meaningful public conversations,” the minister added.