Now, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata has debunked a statement attributed to him on the sale of liquor using Aadhaar cards. The business tycoon has flagged it saying it is “fake”, and clarified that it was not said by him.

The statement, which is widely being shared online along with picture, read: “Liquor sales should be sold through Aadhaar card. Government food subsidies should be stopped for alcohol buyers. Those who have the facility to buy alcohol can definitely buy food. When we give them free food they buy alcohol.”

Taking to Instagram, the 83-year-old industrialist clarified, “This was not said by me. Thank you.”

This is not a one-off case. Earlier, Mahindra Group’s Chairman Anand Mahindra took Twitter to bust a similar claim.

A photo quote doing the rounds on the Internet claimed Mahindra had said: “Stockmarket trading should be made compulsory in middle school education”.

Mahindra admitted he was flattered that people believed his statement were quotable, but added, “The downside is wrongly attributed quotes!”

Adding that he strongly believes “in the power of social media to democratize information & share knowledge”, Mahindra said he would always try his best to fight misinformation.

As both Tata and Mahindra have a vast following on social media, also having the power to influence, netizens were glad the duo corrected the viral posts.

In April this year, the Puducherry administration had revoked the 7.5 % special Covid duty on liquor, enabling a drop in rates of alcohol in the tourism dependent union territory.

Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundaranjan has approved the excise department’s proposal to bring to close the validity of the special excise duty with effect from April 7.

The move made liquor products cheaper in Puducherry. The special duty was imposed in May last year to bring the price on par with the rates in neighboring states and to prevent the influx of people into Puducherry, especially from Tamil Nadu, during the pandemic situation.

The then LG Kiran Bedi, who imposed the duty despite opposition by then CM, had extended it periodically. But the duty was withdrawn to make liquor cheaper to net revenue to the fund-starved exchequer.

While withdrawing the special duty, the LG had directed that all bars and retail sellers of liquor and restaurants to follow safety norms. The lifting of special duty had been done after getting the Election commission clearance, a press release from the office of the Lt. Governor had said.