Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli admitted that the ruling coalition under his leadership is inauspicious.
Fact
Viral clip is from 2022, and shows Oli criticising the then coalition of Nepali Congress and Maoists.
A video allegedly showing Prime Minister and Chairman and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli conceding that the current alliance of his party CPN-UML and Nepali Congress is inauspicious is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @nandurokamagar55 posted a video carrying two clips of KP Sharma Oli delivering a speech at public events. In the first video clip, Oli is heard saying, “This alliance came to power and the country doesn’t have money. What an evil force has entered the country.” Text superimposed on the video reads, “KP Sharma Oli [Incumbent Prime Minister] admits the current coalition of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML is inauspicious.”
In another video, Oli says, “You know what kind of government has been formed. Not a single day has passed without a bus accident ever since the government was formed.” Text superimposed on the second video clip, which is referred to the video clip, reads, “Prime Minister Ji didn’t you say it sometime ago? Do you even realise what happens when you spit into the sky?”
The video posted on August 23 has garnered 385 likes, 56 users have shared it and 108 people have commented until the time of publishing this article. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker took several key-frames from both the video clips carried in the viral video and ran reverse searches on them. A Google reverse search on a frame from the first clip led us to a video dated, May 8, 2022, published on the YouTube channel of Setopati online.
On checking the video, which showed then opposition party leader KP Sharma Oli, addressing an electoral assembly in Butwal ahead of the local level election held on May 13, 2022. However, we couldn’t find the exact clip from Oli’s speech matching the viral video.
Taking a clue from the video, we ran a Google search for Nepali keywords ‘inauspicious alliance KP Oli’ and found an article, dated May 9 , 2022, published on Nepal Live online. The article quoted Oli’s remark about the then alliance which exactly matched the remark made by Oli in the viral video. Oli was referring to the then alliance of Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre).
Further, we took a key frame from the second viral video and ran a reverse search on it. The search led us to a video, dated March 14, 2017, published on the YouTube channel of ABC TV Nepal. The video frame from 5.36-minute to 5.45-minute exactly matched the clip carried in the viral video.
Earlier this year in July, the CPN-UML decided to pull out its support to Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and joined hands with the Nepali Congress. A new government led by KP Sharma Oli was formed on July 14 after the deal between UML Chair KP Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has not remarked that the current alliance between CPN-UML and Nepali Congress is inauspicious.
Conclusion
No, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has not admitted that the current coalition as inauspicious. The viral video from May 2022 actually shows him criticising the then coalition of Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre).
Result: False
Sources
Setopati /YouTube , May 8, 2022
Nepali Live, May 9, 2022
ABC TV Nepal/YouTube, March 14, 2017
Nepali Live, May 9, 2022
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
