Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday said that false information about attacks on migrant workers in the state were spread a day after he called for an Opposition alliance to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Over the past two weeks, several videos have been shared on social media purportedly showing migrant workers, especially from Bihar, being attacked and even killed in Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu Police and state officials as well as fact checkers have said that the claims are fake. Cases have been filed against a BJP spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh, pro-government website OpIndia and an unidentified editor of Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar for spreading disinformation.

On Thursday, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president alleged that BJP leaders from North India had spread such false information with ulterior motives.

“For many decades, people belonging to various states have been living in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said. “In the last few years, many have come for employment. These people don’t have any problems in any part of the state.”

The chief minister said that people can understand BJP’s agenda if they notice the timing of the spread of the disinformation.

Stalin had made the statement about the united Opposition on March 1 at a function in Chennai to celebrate his 70th birthday. The chief minister had said that defeating the BJP in 2024 must be the single goal of all Opposition parties.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Tejashwi Yadav and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were among those who had attended the event.

On March 2, the BJP’s Bihar unit claimed on its Twitter handle that Yadav was celebrating Stalin’s birthday despite “12 Bihari migrant workers [having been] killed” in the latter’s state. The widely viewed tweet was subsequently deleted.

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