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
Even International media called Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli not a politician but a murderer.
Fact
No, viral video from July 2020 reports KP Sharma’s rise in politics.
A video claiming that international media has called Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli is not a politician but a murderer is going viral on TikTok.
The video goes viral in the wake of allegations made by controversial medical entrepreneur Durga Prasain that PM Oli had invested Rs 32.5 billion in a telecom company in Cambodia.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @ray_0f_hope posted a video showing a clip of report on how KP Sharma rose the ladder of his political career. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Even international media have said KP Sharma Oli is not a politician but a murder. Listen carefully who KP Oli is. Indian agent, corrupt, eighth grade failed and Dharma Prasad Dhakal’s murderer.” In the news clip, Indian famous news anchor Palki Sharma says, “KP Sharma Oli is not your traditional politician. He is a school dropout, he was sent to jail at the age of 22 not for any civil offence but for the murder of a man, Dharma Prasad Dhakal, a farmer in eastern Nepal. This is something Oli doesn’t talk about very much and understandably so. Oli was born in 1952 in eastern Nepal. He was called Dhruba as a child and raised by his grandmother. When Oli turned 18 he signed up for the communist party. Almost immediately he was arrested… He got a break in politics when he was elected in 1991. He was one of the strongest critics of the Maoists throughout the insurgency…” The video goes on to elucidate the political career of KP Oli and how his allegiance shifted from India to China.
The video caption reads, “He started playing China card after India stopped caring about him. Otherwise he was pro-India and forged the Mahakali treaty (Watersharing deal between Nepal and India) in favour of India. He is a traitor.”
The video posted on Nov 20 has garnered 6731 likes, 1197 users have shared and 350 people have commented until the last count.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker took a clue from the viral video and ran a search on Google. A keyword search for “Who is KP Sharma Oli? WION” led us to a video, dated July 15, 2020, posted on the Facebook page of WION channel. The video exactly matched the viral video. However, nowhere in the report does anchor Sharma say KP Sharma is not a politician. We noted that the viral video misconstrued the narration by the news anchor that “KP Sharma Oli is not your traditional politician.”
Further, we also found the same news clip, dated July 15, 2020, posted on the YouTube channel of WION.
On digging further, we found that KP Sharma Oli was holding the post of Prime Minister in his earlier stint when the report was aired on the channel in July 2020.
Conclusion
No, the viral video doesn’t show International media calling KP Sharma Oli not a politician but a murder. The viral video from July 2020 narrating how KP Sharma Oli rose through the ladder of his career in politics is misinterpreted and exaggerated.
Result: False
WION /Facebook, July 15, 2020
WION/YouTube, July 15, 2020
India Today, July 2, 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.
