Fact Check: Who married whom: False stories linked to BJP leaders go viral

A newspaper clipping with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Murli Manohar Joshi, Lal Krishna Advani, Bal Thackeray, and Ashok Singhal is widely being shared on social media.

By Tejal Sinha  Published on  16 Dec 2021 4:19 AM GMT
Fact Check: Who married whom: False stories linked to BJP leaders go viral

Hyderabad: A newspaper clipping with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Murli Manohar Joshi, Lal Krishna Advani, Bal Thackeray, and Ashok Singhal is widely being shared on social media.

"Why do you have to hide your relatives for the votes? Modi's niece's husband is Muslim. BJP's Shahnawaz Hussain's wife is Murli Manohar Joshi's daughter. BJP's Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's wife is V. H. P.'s Ashok Singhal's daughter. LK Advani's daughter's second husband was a Muslim. The daughter of Subramanian Swamy is married to a Muslim. Bal Thackeray's granddaughter got married to a Muslim, Naqvi, and Shahnawaz's secret of being spokesperson also opens from this," reads the text.





Fact Check

The claim is misleading.

It seemed the clipping has been edited. The text in the newspaper clipping doesn't have a full stop or comma anywhere in the whole story. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's photo has been used in two places and the syntax is also messed up in a few places. The headline also has 'bot' instead of 'vote' and the spelling of 'रिश्तेदारी' (relative) is written as 'रिस्तेदारी'.

Claim 1: PM Modi's niece married a Muslim

On performing a keyword search, we found news published in Amar Ujala on October 12, 2019. According to the report, the purse of PM Modi's niece Damayanti was snatched. She is the daughter of PM's elder brother Prahlad Modi. Her husband's name is Vikas Modi.


According to a report published by Bhaskar, Prime Minister Modi's niece Nikunjben has passed away. She was also the daughter of his elder brother Prahlad Modi. She used to teach students and her husband Jagdish Kumar worked in a private company.


Claim 2: The wife of BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain is the daughter of Murli Manohar Joshi

A report that was published by Jansatta on October 28, 2020, spoke about the love story of Shahnawaz Hussain and his wife Renu.


However, it is to be noted that the names of the daughters of Murli Manohar Joshi are Priyamvada Joshi and Nivedita Joshi.

Claim 3: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's wife is the daughter of Ashok Singhal of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

On November 17, 2015, the Times of India reported about VHP's firebrand leader Ashok Singhal. According to this, Ashok Singhal and his sister did not marry.


At the same time, according to the information published on the website of OneIndia, the name of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's wife is Seema Naqvi.

Claim 4: LK Advani's daughter's second marriage was with Muslim

According to the information published on the website `Wiki bio' and Celebrity born, Advani's daughter Pratibha Advani was married to Kamlesh Thadani, a hotel executive. However, they parted ways after a few years of marriage.

Claim 5: Suhasini, daughter of Subramanian Swamy, is married to a Muslim

This is true.

According to a report published by Jansatta, the son-in-law of BJP veteran Subramanian Swamy is also a Muslim. Daughter Suhasini Haider is married to Nadeem Haider. When Subramaniam was trolled, he said that he has given such an upbringing to his daughters Geetanjali and Suhasini that after the age of 21; they can make their own decisions.


Claim 6: Bal Thackeray's granddaughter married a Muslim

When it came to the marriage of Bal Thackeray's granddaughter and Uddhav Thackeray's niece Neha, there has always been a rumor of her marrying a Muslim. According to a report published by News 18 on November 29, 2019, "Neha Bal Thackeray, daughter of Bal Thackrey's son Bindu Madhav Thackeray, is said to have rebelled against the family for marrying a Muslim youth. Neha is not married to a Muslim, but a Gujarati boy. All the family members including Bal Thackeray were present at the wedding. When asked whether Neha's husband Dr. Manan Thakkar converted to the Hindu religion, the Thackeray family had denied it."


It is therefore evident that the claim made through the viral posts is misleading. It is only true that Subramanian Swamy's daughter had married a Muslim youth. However, apart from this, the rest of the claims are False.

Claim Review:Relatives of a few BJP leaders, founder of Shiv Sena Bal Thackeray and former deputy Prime Minister LK Advani are Muslim
Claimed By:Social Media Users
Claim Reviewed By:Newsmeter
Claim Source:Social Media
Claim Fact Check:Misleading
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