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
Secluded Nepali folk singer Bishnu Majhi brought out in public.
Fact
Viral video shows Nepali Paralympic medalist Palesha Goverdhan being welcomed in Kathmandu.
A viral video allegedly showing secluded Nepali folk singer Bishnu Majhi coming out in public is going viral on TikTok. Singer Majhi is known for leading a private life.
The video goes viral on the heels of the remark made by Nepali Congress lawmaker Chandra Bhandari that the songs by Bishnu Majhi reflect Nepali society and have deeply touched Nepali people. Speaking at the parliament on September 3, Bhandari remarked that every Nepali including himself wishes to see the person behind such a beautiful voice. “I am not trying to violate her personal rights. But if it is possible , let us try to make her public.”
Majhi, who has sung many popular folk songs, has never been seen in public and her songs are released and directed by her husband Sundar Mani Adhikari.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @chandrakc987 posted a video showing a woman being greeted with garlands and ‘Khada’ in the midst of a crowd. The video also carries a only known photo of Bishnu Majhi. Text superimposed on the video reads, ”We have been able to make Bishnu Majhi public after a hard work. What difference did you find in her former and present avatars.”
The video posted on September 8 has garnered 28k likes, and 267 users have shared it.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 closely observed the video and compared the girl seen in visual with the purported photo of Bishnu Majhi. But we didn’t find any resemblance between the girl seen in the clip and the photo carried in the viral video.
We, then, noticed the background which matched the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu giving us the clue that the video could be the welcome of Palesha Goverdhan, who won bronze in Paris Paralympic Game 2024.
Taking a clue from it, we ran a search on YouTube for ‘Palesha Goverdhan welcome’ and found a video, dated September 4, 2024, published on the YouTube channel of Deshsanchar online. On checking the video, we found that the video frame at 2.58-minute exactly matched the viral video.
Further, we also found another video published on the Nepali Live online which also resembled the viral video. We also checked an article on Aljazeera which carried an image somehow matching the viral video about the welcome to Palesha Goverdhan in Kathmandu.
Palesha Goverdhan, who is studying architectural engineering in China, won the bronze medal in the women’s K44-57kg para taekwondo category, beating Serbia’s Marija Micev 15-8.
Thus, our findings clearly show that the viral clip doesn’t show folk singer Bishnu Majhi’s public appearance.
Conclusion
No, Nepali folk singer Bishnu Majhi has not come out in public. The viral video shows Nepali’s first Paralympic medalist Palesha being welcomed at Kathmandu Airport.
Result: False
Sources
Baahrakhari, Sept 3, 2024
Deshsanchar, Sept 4, 2024
Nepali Live/YouTube, Sept 4, 2024
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.
