Claim
A Times Now newscard stating that PM Narendra Modi has announced his retirement, and that his last day as PM will be on September 16, 2025.
The archived version of the Instagram post can be seen here. We received this ticket on our Whatsapp tipline (+91-9999499044), too, requesting us to fact-check it.
Fact
Newschecker found no credible news reports on PM Narendra Modi announcing his retirement, while Times Now’s website and social media accounts carried no such graphic nor news report. We also went through PM Modi and PMO India’s social media accounts, but found no such announcement.
We, however, came across numerous news reports from the previous week, seen here, here, here and here, on the heated speculation over PM Modi’s possible retirement after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on March 31 alleged the RSS, the BJP’s ideological mentor, wanted PM Modi to step down by September and make way for new leadership.
However, according to these reports, both the BJP and RSS have categorically dismissed the speculation, with Maharashtra CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis dismissing Raut’s claim, saying that there is “no need to search” for PM Modi’s successor as he will continue to hold the top post again in 2029.
We then reached out to Navika Kumar, group editor-in-chief, Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, who debunked the viral graphic, stating, “Times Now categorically denies creating any such post with news that have not been reported or posted by us on our channel, website or any of our official social media handles. This is an abuse & misuse of our brand logo in a futile attempt to authenticate fake news. We have already flagged such accounts to X and our legal team is looking into this as well.”
Newschecker also found that the same purported “Times Now” graphic was earlier used with a “NewsOne” logo, indicating that they were fake news graphics following a fixed template.
Interestingly, the Facebook page of NewsOne Live TV led us to a website of the “Delhi-based media outlet (as per its bio on FB)”, which gave a low-to-medium trust score when it was checked on Scam Detector, a major online fraud prevention resource. “The algorithm detected potential high-risk activity related to phishing, spamming, and other factors noted in the Doubtful. Medium-Risk. Alert. tags above,” read the report, further confirming that the news was fake.
Also Read: Does This Video Depict Police Crackdown On Protests Against The Waqf Bill in Uttar Pradesh?
Source
Email from Navika Kumar, group editor-in-chief, Times Now and Times Now Navbharat
Scam Detector website
