The notice lists eight allegations by DMK that were published by the media, with rebuttals by AIADMK.
The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Thursday sent a ‘legal notice’ to the editors of all the press and television outlets against the printing or broadcasting of “false, unfounded and unfounded accusations and propaganda” by DMK president MK Stalin against Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and the state government. In the notice signed by defender Babu Kumaravel, the party has listed eight specific accusations allegedly made by MK Stalin and published by various media outlets, and has offered its rebuttal.
The unusual notice sent by AIADMK alleged that the articles contained claims of campaign propaganda from DMK, which were false and without foundation. The notice pointed to an order from the Madras High Court to MK Stalin, telling him not to bring any unfounded charges and comments against the Chief Minister and the state of Tamil Nadu. The notice also asked the media not to give space to such accusations without verifying their authenticity and threatened legal action if the media continued to publish such statements.
While offering a rebuttal to the “unsubstantiated” claims, the advisory points to different data sources. In two cases, the ad also “corrects” a media claim of a higher Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) with a lower one.
For example, the ad mentions this specific allegation twice: in the last 8 years of the AIADMK rule, the proportion of SC (Scheduled Caste) students who have entered higher education is only 42.1%. The party refuted this accusation by stating that the GER of SC students who have entered higher education during the AIADMK period is 41.6%, which is double the 21.7% during the DMK period. By the way, the GER mentioned by AIADMK in its notice is less than the claim made by the DMK.
Another claim that was refuted in the ad was that the AIADMK government was the sole reason why more than 16,000 farmers committed suicide. “National Crime Bureau Records (NCRB) shows that Tamil Nadu has reported not 16,000 but 3,203 cases of suicides of persons engaged in the agricultural profession in the last seven years. Farmer suicides have been reduced by 52.29% under AIADMK in the last 10 years, ”he said.
While another indictment spoke about how crimes against minors and women reportedly increased by 300% and how the state has the highest number of domestic violence cases, the rebuttal noted that Tamil Nadu had the lowest number of domestic violence cases in the country according to 2019 National Criminal Records Office (NCRB) data.
“Tamil Nadu, governed by AIADMK, has the highest number of unemployed youth among all the southern states of India. More than 23 lakh of young people in the vicious circles of unemployment, ”says the complaint. The answer to this was that the state has the lowest unemployment rate of 1.1 in the country as of November 2020 and that more than 15.58 lakh of young people have obtained employment in the formal sector in the last three years. The response did not mention how many unemployed young people reside in Tamil Nadu.
To DMK’s claim of a 100% increase in the number of students enrolled in private schools, AIADMK’s notice responded stating that more than 5 lakh of private school students had joined government schools in 2020. It also said that the New reservation of 7.5% in Medical positions for public school students resulted in around 400 rural students obtaining MBBS and BDS positions in medical schools.
“General Health Index, Tamil Nadu has fallen from rank three to nine under the AIADMK rule … According to the WHO (World Health Organization), there has to be one bed for every 200 people,” the indictment states. The answer to this was that the state has the highest number of beds in the country with 72,616 and that according to a WHO report, Tamil Nadu was the only state in the country to successfully combat COVID-19 with the death rate more low.
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