Authors
A long political feud finally came to an end in the union territory of Puducherry. Following the resignation of MLAs from the ruling Congress party, there have been various politically motivated incidents related to the appointment of Tamilisai Soundararajan to replace the BJP-appointed Deputy Governor of Puducherry, Kiran Bedi.
Amid this, Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi visited the union territory to campaign ahead of the assembly elections. During one of his interactions with the fishing community in Solai Nagar beach, Puducherry CM Narayanasamy mistranslated a fisherwoman’s quote from Tamil to English, while she attempted to convey her woes to Gandhi.
Fact Check/ Verification
Ambika, one of the fisherwomen, told Gandhi (translated), “Fishermen living in coastal areas are often affected by seawater intrusion. But, there is no one to support us. Take the CM for example…did he visit us even once during the Cyclone?”
Which CM Narayanasamy then translated to: “After cyclone Nivar, I visited the area and provided them with relief supplies, he said.”
Know more about the related video in Tamil here.
What happened next?
The claim that Puducherry’s CM Narayanasamy mistranslated the fisherwoman’s words during the interaction is true.
However, CM Narayanasamy later posted an explanation on his official Twitter page. The first of his four tweets when translated from Tamil to English reads, “In the hoax news that is currently spreading on social websites. You can see in this photo the proof that what she said is a completely false accusation.”
He further said that a field survey was carried out in the coastal villages of Muthialpet and Rajpavan constituencies and instructions were given to the concerned departmental officers regarding the safety of human lives, animals and property such as boats and machinery.
You can read CM Narayanasamy’s entire tweet thread below.
The archived version can be viewed here.
As per BBC Tamil report, Ambika misrepresented the facts to Gandhi and CM Narayanasamy corrected the fact and shared the same with Gandhi.
We’ve reached out to the CM’s office as well as Ambika. This article will be updated if and when we get a response.
This article was first published in Tamil Newschecker.
Conclusion
Regardless, it’s clear that CM Narayanasamy did not accurately translate the fisherwoman’s words.
Result: True
Our Sources
Puthiyathalaimurai TV: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmyKnNRH0wH-r8I-ceP-dsg
V Narayanasami: https://twitter.com/VNarayanasami/status/1362075451963805696
BBC Tamil: https://www.bbc.com/tamil/india-56108083
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