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
Pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) organised a show-of-force rally after the Dashain festival.
Fact
Viral video shows an old video of a rally organised by the Rastriya Prajatantra Party demanding restoration of monarchy.
A video allegedly showing a massive rally organised by pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party after the Dashain festival is going viral on TikTok.
Nepal was declared a secular republic in May 2008 by the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA). Prior to that Nepal was a Hindu Kingdom. Pro-monarchist Rastriya Parjatantra Party has been advocating for the restoration of monarchy and Hindu status.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @kapil_khadka_1 posted a video showing a huge rally where participants can be seen carrying flags of Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal’s national flag. Text superimposed on the video reads, “A big program after Dashain festival. Pro-monarchists staged a show-of-force, Gyanendra Shahi himself on the street.” Audio accompanying the video presented in live reporting style says, “Chief whip of parliamentary party Gyanendra Shahi, lawmakers Dhawal Sumsher Rana, Deepak Singh, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Deputy Chairman Rabindra Mishra, among other central leaders, are in the vehicle.” In the background, the participants are heard chanting the slogan, “Raajsanstha Jindabad [Up with monarchy].”
The video posted on October 17 has garnered 17.5k likes, 415 users have shared it and 972 people have commented until the last count.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker split the video into several key frames and ran reverse searches on them. A search on a frame from the viral video led us to several articles and videos (see here, here, here & here) on the protest staged by the Rastriya Prajatantra Party earlier this year in April.
On checking an article published on Amedbad, dated April 10, 2024, carrying an image resembling a frame from the viral video, we found that the image showed a protest rally organised in Kathmandu by the pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party.
We also found another video, dated April 10, 2024, and published on the YouTube channel named ANI News. The video description reads, “Thousands of people took to the streets in Nepal to demand for reinstating constitutional monarchy and converting the nation to a Hindu kingdom.”
Further, we noticed the logo of Kadanews on the frame of a viral video. Taking a clue, we searched a YouTube channel named Kadanews and searched for the video. However, we couldn’t find the video matching the viral video.
We then reached out to the registered number of Kadanews online and learned from the channel’s owner Sishir Pokhrel that he captured the live reporting video of an RPP rally organised in Kathmandu in April and the video is posted on the YouTube channel named Anand Khabar. We searched the channel and found a video resembling the one posted on April 10, 2024. On checking the video, we found that the video frame from 0.26-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video is from earlier this year in April when pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) organised a rally demanding the restoration of monarchy.
Conclusion
No, the viral video doesn’t show the show-of-force by pro-monarchist RPP organised in Kathmandu after Dashain festival. The viral video actually shows old footage of a protest rally by RPP held earlier this year in April.
Result: False
Sources
Ahmedbad Mirror, April 10, 2024
ANI News/YouTube, April 10, 2024
Anand Khabar/YouTube, April 9, 2024
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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.
