A screenshot from Bharatiya Janata Party's website listing names of Prime Minster Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh under the category of 'Margdarshak Mandal' is being shared falsely claiming that their names were recently added after the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
BOOM found that the claim is false and that the addition is not recent or connected to the recently concluded general election. Both Modi and Singh were included in BJP's Margdarshak Mandal in 2014, along with LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.
The viral screenshot was posted by Kerala Congress's official X handle with the caption, "Modi and Rajnath Singh officially entered Marg Darshak Mandal according to BJP's website. Is this indication that the floor test is going to fail and is this a dry run of the page post the disaster?"
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh's names have been listed under BJP's Margdarshak Mandal since August 2014.
The BJP formed the Margdarshak Mandal in August 2014, months after the BJP formed the government at the center, and Modi became prime minister for the first time. The Margdarshak Mandal was formed after senior leaders like Advani and Joshi's names were dropped from the BJP's parliamentary board. It included five BJP leaders at that point including Modi and Singh, but was criticised as an attempt to sideline senior BJP leaders like Advani and Joshi.
We found a press release dated August 26, 2014, which read, "National President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Amit Shah has appointed the following senior leaders to guide the activities of the party:- Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shri Narendra Modi, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Shri Rajnath Singh"
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Additionally, we also found several news reports from August 2014 on five senior BJP leaders names being included in the Margdarshak Mandal.
The names of veteran party leaders LK Advani and MM Joshi were dropped from the parliamentary board, but were included in a new body, the 'Margdarshak Mandal'. The 'Margdarshak Mandal' (guiding body) is a five-member body that consitutes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi, LK Advani, MM Joshi and Rajnath Singh, ET reported on August 26, 2014.
We also found a post from India Today dated August 26, 2014, that read, "Narendra Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh in BJP Parliamentary Board's Margdarshak Mandal."
Additionally, we also found an archive of the Margdarshak Mandal page on Wayback Machine dating back to 2021, which feature the names of Modi and Singh.
