Chennai: Journalist Mohammed Zubair was on Friday honoured by the Tamil Nadu government by presenting an award for communal harmony for busting rumours that Hindi-speaking migrant labourers were attacked in the state through fact-checking articles, drawing a sharp criticism from the BJP which termed him as a “biased manipulator.”
As Governor R N Ravi looked on, Chief Minister M K Stalin presented the Kottai Ameer Communal Harmony Award carrying a medal, certificate and Rs 25,000 to Zubair during the Republic Day celebrations on the Marina Beach.
The citation presented to Zubair, also the co-founder of fact checking website AltNews and a native of Krishnagiri district, says the award was being presented to him for the services he rendered to maintain communal harmony.
Zubair was honoured for a series of fact-checking articles he published on the rumours that migrant workers from north India were being attacked by natives in Tamil Nadu. Panic-stricken migrant workers thronged railway stations across the state, prompting the state government to mount massive efforts, including reaching out to them in Hindi, to quell the rumours.
“After verifying the authenticity of the video footage, he has published on his website 'Alt News' website that the footage in the video posted on social media was not actually taken place in Tamil Nadu and thus stopped the spread of rumours against Tamil Nadu and acted to prevent violence caused by caste, religion, race and language in Tamil Nadu,” the citation added.
The fake and doctored videos led to a tense situation in Tamil Nadu and states like Bihar which sent an official team to meet migrant workers and ensure that they are safe.
Hours after Stalin presented the award to Zubair, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai accused the DMK of not failing to hit a new low every alternate week and said conferring the award on the fact-checker is an “insult to all recipients of this award in the past.”
“Creating Social Disharmony would be the right category to place this person (Zubair). DMK’s choice doesn't surprise us, as they continue to call a suicide bombing (in Coimbatore) a cylinder blast and they have developed a new liking for half-truth peddlers under the disguise of fact-checkers. Tax money is down the drain, but does it matter to the DMK Govt?” Annamalai asked.
In his response to the award, Zubair said he was overwhelmed to receive the 'Kottai Ameer Communal Harmony Award' from the Tamil Nadu Government.
“Very happy that our work at @AltNews is recognised, appreciated and celebrated. Congratulations to all my team members and thank you to all the well-wishers for the trust and support,” he said.
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