Fake Newspaper Clipping Claims That PM Modi's Siblings Hold Him Guilty For Their Father's Death

A purported newspaper clipping claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's siblings hold him guilty for their father's death is viral on social media. The clipping talks about alleged incidents from PM's childhood and is headlined in Hindi, "आज भी नरेंद्र मोदी के भाई बहन नरेंद्र मोदी को ही अपने पिताजी के मौत का जिम्मेदार मानते हैं" (Even today, Narendra Modi's siblings consider Narendra Modi responsible for their father's death).

Excerpts from the newspaper clipping assert that Narendra Modi ran away from his home in childhood after stealing gold. Consequently, his father, Damodardas Mulchand Modi, suffered a heart attack and ultimately passed away due to a lack of resources for medical treatment. The article mentions that in 1996, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee suppressed the case and the FIR against Narendra Modi.

Facebook user Vikay Jat while sharing this post wrote in Hindi, "प्रह्लाद मोदी ने कहा नरेंद्र मोदी गहने चोर कर घर से भागा था". Its English translation reads, "Prahlad Modi said that Narendra Modi ran away from home after stealing jewellery."

It is being widely shared on Facebook.

The purported newspaper clip was shared by Daman And Diu Congress Sevaldal on Twitter as well on July 21, 2020.

Claim:

A newspaper clipping claims that PM Modi's siblings hold him guilty for their father's death.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact-check team found that the viral claim is fake.

We analysed the viral photo of the newspaper clipping, which appeared suspicious. It mentions 'Delhi News Network' at the story's beginning; we searched it on the internet but could not find any trace of such a media organisation. The report does not mention any publishing date and does not back the information with factual data like date, time, and place. Also, there are numerous spelling errors in the text like 'पुलिस' is spelt as 'पोलिस', the word 'पकड़ा' is written as 'पकडा'. Many sentences in the article do not end with Hindi a purn viraam (full-stop) but ellipsis (series of dots).

We also searched the internet for the alleged incidents but could not find any reliable data.

Fact-check website Alt News spoke to a few close associates of PM Modi's early life on this matter.

They contacted his elder brother Soma Modi who said that Narendra Modi was at Kailash Mansarovar Yatra during their father's demise. He cited, "My father had bone cancer and died in 1989. Narendra came back home and gave father prasad from Mansarovar. Father passed away the next day."

They contacted PM Modi's younger brother, Prahlad Modi, who affirmed the above information. He said, "This is completely false, our father died in 1989 of bone cancer. Narendra was an RSS pracharak at the time and was home for father's funeral."

They also spoke to PM's biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay who wrote, 'Narendra Modi: The Man, the Times'. He said, "To the best of my knowledge and the conversations I've had Mr Modi during the time I was researching for my book, he'd said that his father died in 1989-90."

According to a Times of India report, in 2018, PM Modi referred to his father during one political speech and stated, "..who died 30 years ago"

Thus, we can conclude that the newspaper clipping claiming that PM Modi's siblings hold him guilty for their father's demise and that their father died of a heart attack is fake. His family members confirmed that their father died of bone cancer in 1989, and Narendra Modi was born in 1950 and would've been nearly 40 years of age at his father's demise.

Therefore, the viral claim is fake.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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