PTR calls audiotape a malicious, fabricated campaign

CHENNAI: State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Saturday ended his silence on the alleged audio circulated on social media and said that he would ignore the malicious slander, but explore legal action if the slander crosses the tolerance threshold.

In a statement posted on his official Twitter handle, Thiaga Rajan said, "From March 20, 2023, I have been entirely involved and dedicated to the Budget session. At the exact time, a 26-second malicious fabricated audio clip was posted."

"Having failed at painting me as a villain in the public sphere, there seems to be a change of strategy; to paint me as a lone crusader, a reluctant whistle-blower, a pseudo-martyr. Whatever I have done in public life is because of my leader DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin and no malicious attempts to divide us will ever succeed," he added.

"I am forced to react at this juncture because one social media post has now been re-broadcasted to lamentable proportions. It has been repeated and amplified by unscrupulous political players and I am distressed to find that traditional media are disseminating such fabricated, malicious, third-hand information," the minister said.

Citing publicly available technical analysis of the alleged clip shows to stated that the audio was not authentic, the Finance Minister said, "With the ability to create fabricated and/or machine-generated clips using advanced technology that it is easily accessible, we should not be surprised to see more audio and even video clips in the coming days and months with ever-more malicious content."

Urging responsible politicians, and the traditional media to only make allegations with or report on first-hand information, or at least authenticated and validated second-hand information from known sources, the minister said, "This shall be my only statement regarding these recent developments. I will go back to ignoring such malicious slander. Of course if such slander crosses the threshold of maximum tolerance, I will be forced to take legal action."

"The traction gained by re-broadcasting publicly discredited third-hand click-bait may cater well to the financial viability of online platforms, but it corrodes the stature of the traditional media in a democracy. Such divisions help no one and only hinder our ability to have meaningful public conversations on important topics that impact the lives of millions of people," PTR added.

In the 26-second audio circulated in social media, a voice sounding similar to PTR was heard mentioning the name of Chief Minister M K Stalin's son Udhayanidhi Stalin and son in law Sabareeshan.