Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin spoke to his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar on Saturday and assured him that migrant workers from north India were safe in his state and that the DMK government would not let any harm come to them.

Stalin dismissed as “fake” the videos and pictures, widely circulated on social media, of purported attacks on north Indian workers in parts of Tamil Nadu including the hosiery hub of Tirupur.

The Tamil Nadu administration has denied any attacks on migrants and dismissed as rumours the reports of Bihari workers fleeing the state. Local journalists from parts of Bihar, however, quoted some returning workers as saying they were “chased away” from Tirupur.

Stalin’s comments came on a day a four-member team of senior Bihar officials left for Tamil Nadu to assess the situation.

“I spoke to the Bihar chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar over telephone today over this issue and explained to him that all migrant workers are our workers who have come here to help develop Tamil Nadu and categorically assured him that no harm will come their way,” Stalin said in a five-page statement.

His health minister, Ma Subramanian, dismissed reports of attacks on north Indian workers and hinted at a political motive.

He said that “political jealousy” at the sizeable presence of north Indian political leaders at Stalin’s 70th birthday celebrations on March 1 — seen as an Opposition show of unity ahead of the 2024 general election — was the trigger for the “rumours”.

Bihar deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who was a prominent presence at the March 1 event in Chennai, supported the Tamil Nadu police’s stand that no attacks on migrants had taken place and accused the BJP of spreading rumours.

“The main occupation and capital of the BJP is to spread hatred, rumours, lies and confusion. No well-wisher of the country should spread animosity and illusion in society,” Tejashwi said in the Bihar Assembly on Friday.

Stalin too blamed “cheap politics” for the rumour-mongering.

“Those spreading such fake reports of migrant workers being attacked in Tamil Nadu are the true anti-national elements who seek to damage the country’s unity and integrity; to do such cheap politics with a non-issue is highly condemnable,” his statement said.