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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Politics & government fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about politics & government. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

12,752 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Centre government not mentioned Tamil as national language in rti

Publisher’s rating: PARTLY FALSE

The review examines a viral post claiming that the Centre had said India has no national language but, if it had one, it should be Tamil. It distinguishes that claim from the RTI reply the post purported to represent. The reply concerned questions raised by Tenkasi resident Pandiyaraja after railway officials answered his English-language question in Hindi. He then asked the Ministry of Home Affairs questions about Indian languages under the Right to Information Act; the ministry forwarded them to the Department of Official Languages. As quoted in the review, the department’s response said India has no national language and that it had issued no order specifying which language must be used to answer an English-language RTI question. It also said there was no penalty for an information officer who replied in Hindi, and that the Official Languages Rules, 1976 did not apply to Tamil Nadu. The quoted response does not say Tamil should be the national language, or that Tamil alone would be suitable if India had one. The review says it compared the viral wording with news coverage of the underlying incident, including reports by News 7 Tamil and Thanthi TV, and checked the image’s provenance with a digital division administrator at Puthiya Thalaimurai. It reports that the viral image used a Puthiya Thalaimurai template but had been edited: the assertion that Tamil should be the national language was added, not part of the original material. Thus, the viral post attaches a Tamil-favoring statement to an RTI exchange that, as described in the review, addressed the absence of a national language and rules about response languages.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Old video of MK Stalin trending now

Publisher’s rating: Missing Context

Fact Crescendo examined a social-media post alleging that MK Stalin had called January 15 Independence Day during a 2021 Independence Day speech. The review says it checked whether he had said this at the celebration in Chennai and found that he had not: “சென்னையில் நடைபெற்ற 75வது சுதந்திர நாளில் மு.க.ஸ்டாலின் இவ்வாறு எதுவும் உளறியிருந்தாரா என தகவல் தேடினோம். அப்போது, அவர் இப்படி எதுவும் பேசவில்லை என்று தெரியவந்தது.” The investigation traced the shared image to a different, older recording. Fact Crescendo reports that it searched for a recent Thanthi TV report matching the clip and found the full video of a meeting in Nellai. It says the frame used in the social-media post appears at 1:59 in that video: “நீண்ட தேடலுக்குப் பின், நெல்லையில் நடைபெற்ற கூட்டத்தில், சுதந்திரம் மற்றும் குடியரசு தின தேதியை தவறாகக் குறிப்பிட்டார் ஸ்டாலின் எனக் குறிப்பிட்டு, திசையும் எட்டு தந்தி டிவி வெளியிட்ட இந்த செய்தியின் முழு வீடியோ நமக்கு கிடைத்தது. இந்த வீடியோவின் 1.59 நிமிடத்தில் வரும் ஃபிரேமை பிரித்தெடுத்து, மேற்கண்ட ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில் பகிர்ந்துள்ளனர் என தெரியவருகிறது.” The review dates the original remarks to a 2017 public meeting in Pavoorchatram, Tirunelveli. It says Stalin mistakenly named January 25 and December 25 while referring to Republic Day, then corrected himself onstage to January 26. The post therefore used an old clip of a Republic Day date error to suggest a different error in a 2021 Independence Day speech: “2017ம் ஆண்டு திருநெல்வேலியில் உள்ள பாவூர்சத்திரத்தில் நடைபெற்ற பொதுக்கூட்டத்தில், ஜனவரி 25 என்றும் டிசம்பர் 25 என்றும் குடியரசு தினத்தைக் குறிப்பிட்டு, மு.க.ஸ்டாலின் தவறாகப் பேசியிருந்தார். பிறகு, அதனை மேடையிலேயே திருத்திக் கொண்டு ஜனவரி 26 குடியரசு தினம் எனக் குறிப்பிட்டிருந்தார். அந்த நிகழ்வை எடுத்து, 2021 சுதந்திர தின உரையின்போது அவர் உளறியதாகக் கூறி வதந்தி பரப்பி வருகின்றனர்.”

dpaPolitics & government

Rutte draagt mapje met alternatieve benaming Build Back Better onder de arm.

Publisher’s rating: De foto is echt. Deze is vandaag (16 augustus 2021) op het binnenhof gemaakt door ANP-fotograaf Dirk Hol. Demissionair minister-president Mark Rutte en VVD-fractievoorzitter Sophie Hermans liepen vanuit het ministerie van Algemene Zaken naar informateur Mariëtte Hamer voor een gesprek over de kabinetsformatie. Op de foto heeft Rutte inderdaad een blauw mapje vast met daarop de tekst "renew europe".

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

FACT CHECK: විවාහ උත්සව සඳහා අවසර අහිමි වීම ප්‍රමාද වුණේ කබ්රාල්ගේ පුතාගේ විවාහ මංගල්‍යය නිසා ද?

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned two linked allegations circulating in Sri Lanka in August 2021: that a lockdown was delayed because Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s son was due to marry, and that wedding functions were allowed until after that wedding. The review identifies the younger son, Chathura Cabraal, as the person said online to be marrying on August 16 or 17. It reports that the posts framed the wedding ban as taking effect only after his celebration. To check the alleged reason, the investigation cites an August 11 denial by Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who said the circulating message about a lockdown delay for his son’s wedding was false. It also says it contacted Chathura Cabraal. He told the fact-checkers that he married in 2016, while his elder brother married in 2015, and that he already had two children. The review further points to an Instagram post concerning the elder son’s 2015 marriage. This evidence directly contradicts the premise that Chathura’s wedding was still due to take place on August 16 or 17, 2021. The review distinguishes that alleged personal motive from the measures actually announced. It says a nationwide nighttime curfew was set to begin on August 16, but that a countrywide lockdown had not been decided by that date. Separately, the police spokesperson said wedding ceremonies would not be permitted from midnight on August 17, while registration could still take place with only the couple, their parents, the registrar and two witnesses. The excerpt supports the conclusion that the claimed wedding-based delay was false; it does not establish a lockdown decision that had not yet been made.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: ex minister Jayakumar not made this comment on DMK govt budget

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The viral card attributed to former minister D. Jayakumar the statement that the Tamil Nadu government’s budget was “like sending away a woman who came asking for a loan after making her pregnant.” The review says a Facebook account posted the card on August 14, 2021, and that others shared it. The specific question investigated was whether Jayakumar had made that remark about the DMK government’s budget. The review compared the viral card with a Puthiya Thalaimurai news card dated August 13, 2021, which it says carried a different set of comments attributed to Jayakumar. Those comments criticized the budget as a “digital trick” and compared its provisions to “corn kernels for an elephant’s hunger.” The review reports that it contacted Saravanan, an administrator in Puthiya Thalaimurai’s digital division, who confirmed that the viral version was fabricated. The review also says it searched news coverage of Jayakumar’s interview and found reports in major outlets, then checked video of the interview published by multiple YouTube channels. It reports that the footage showed him criticizing the budget as a “trick” for the public, but not making the pregnancy comparison. On that evidence, the review concluded the viral card had been edited to add a remark he did not make.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Venkaiah Naidu, Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha cried in the Parliament after forceful passage of a bill aimed at selling off the LIC

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim links Venkaiah Naidu’s tears to the passage of a bill intended to sell off LIC. The original review says he broke down while addressing a Rajya Sabha session on 12 August 2021, but attributes his anguish to opposition MPs’ protests the previous day. Those protests included MPs climbing tables and throwing books and files during the Parliament monsoon session. The bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on 11 August was the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021. The review explains that it allowed private participation in public-sector insurance companies and amended the law governing those insurers; it was not a bill concerning LIC. The opposition protested its passage and demanded that it be referred to a select committee. The review distinguishes that measure from the government’s earlier action on LIC: in March 2021, during the budget session, the Finance Act amended the Life Insurance Corporation Act to allow dilution of the government’s stake through an IPO. It says no bill entailing the sale of LIC was passed during the monsoon session. The review suggests the General Insurance bill may have been mistaken for a measure about LIC, but concludes that Naidu’s emotional response was about the protests, not the passage of a bill to sell off LIC.