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
Viral video shows Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal warning CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba that he won’t resign.
Fact
Viral video from December 2020 actually shows Maoist leader Dahal hitting out at then PM Oli.
A 26-second video allegedly showing Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanada’ warning Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba that he won’t step down from his post, is going viral on TikTok.
The video is circulating online in the wake of a deal between Sher Bahadur Deuba and KP Sharma Oli, whose party CPN-UML is the key partner in the current government led by PM Dahal, to form a new government. According to the deal reached on the midnight of July 1, UML Chair Oli and NC President Deuba have agreed to become prime minister by taking turns till the next election in 2027.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @tilak.lama.967 posted a video showing Prime Minister and UCPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ delivering a fervent speech at a programme. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Prime Minister won’t resign from his post and he has warned Oli and Deuba. PM Prachanda and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane will step down only after opening all the files [Corruption related]. He has told Oli to do whatever he can [to protect himself].”
In his speech PM Dahal is heard saying, “Please get out of your illusion. I am not a liar like KP Oli and none of us are like him. It is straightforward that we will fight till the end, you can make your preparations, but we won’t give up.”
The video posted on July 2 has garnered 343 likes, and 18 users have commented until the last count. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newscheker split the video into several key frames and ran reverse searches on them. A search led us to a video, dated June 8, 2024 published on a YouTube channel named Visual News Service. The first part of the 35-second footage exactly matched the viral video. We found evidence that the video was not just a month old as the relations between Oli and Dahal were cordial until last week.
We, then, took a keyframe from the video and conducted a reverse search on it and found several articles and videos (see here, here) whose images and frames resemble the viral video. On checking a video, dated December 29, 2020, published on the Facebook Page of Ratopati online, we knew that Dahal was lashing out at KP Sharma Oli during a programme organised to protest the dissolution of parliament by then Prime Minister Oli. Despite several similarities, we could not find the clip exactly matching Dahal’s speech.
On checking an article, dated December 29, 2020, published Deshsanchar online, we found that the image carried in the article matched the viral video. The article also reported a protest rally organised by disgruntled leaders of the Nepal Communist Party—formed by merging Oli’s CPN-UML and Prachanda-led Maoists—after Oli.
Further, we searched YouTube by using relevant keywords and found a video, dated December 30, 2020, published on a YouTube Channel named Dilli Malla. On checking the video, we found that the video from 34.15-minute onwards exactly matched Dahal’s speech in the viral clip though the angle of the video was different. We found that the video was captured during a protest assembly organised by disgruntled leaders of the Nepal Communist Party.
We compared the viral video with the frames from other two videos and found many striking similarities.
Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the viral video was captured during a protest assembly in Kathmandu against the dissolution of parliament.
After the Oli-Deuba deal, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal indeed refused to step down and to seek a parliamentary vote of confidence instead.
Conclusion
No, the viral video doesn’t show Incumbent Prime Minister Dahal refusing to step down from his post after the deal between Oli and Deuba to form a new alliance. The viral clip is actually from December 2020, and has nothing to do with the current political scenario.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Visual News Service, June 8, 2024
Ratopati /Facebook, 29 Dec, 2020
Dilli Malla /YouTube, 30 Dec, 2020
Deshsanchar, 29 Dec, 2020
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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.
