A social media post is claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wife, Jashodaben Modi, has joined the Congress party. It is being shared in the format for a breaking news template of Aaj Tak. However, we couldn’t find any news related to this claim on the news channel’s website. We noticed a difference between the viral post and the channel’s graphics. For instance, Aaj Tak’s real breaking news graphics don’t use full stops at the end of the text, while the social media post’s graphic do.
Additionally, we found a The Times of India article (archive) from 2017, which stated that the Congress wanted Jashodaben to contest the Gujarat Assembly elections, but she declined. She had also supported Modi’s demonetisation move.
The false claim of Modi’s wife joining the Congress post was fact-checked by Fact Crescendo in 2023 as well. To know about the current election scenario, we contacted Jashodaben’s brother, Ashok Modi. He clarified that his sister has not joined the Congress. The claim in the viral post is false. He added that Jashodaben has no intention of joining any political party at the moment. This rumour resurfaces every year during elections.
Conclusion:
After fact-checking, we found that the viral post is fake and the claim of Jashodaben, joining the Congress party is false.
This story was originally published by Fact Crescendo, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline, excerpt and introduction para, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.