Viral Video Falsely Claims Nepali Congress Put Photo Of Gandhi At Its Special Convention

Claim
Nepali Congress placed a grand photo of Mahatma Gandhi at its special general convention.
Fact
Photo carried in the viral video is from Gandhi Jayanti marked in Kathmandu in October 2019.

A 59-second video allegedly showing an image with Mahatma Gandhi’s photo from the ongoing general convention of Nepali Congress party is going viral on TikTok.

The video is going viral at a time when the Nepali Congress party is holding its special general convention and shortly after the birthday of late King Prithvi Narayan Shah—who led the unification campaign of Nepal—marked on Paush 27 (January 11 this year) every year as the national unification day.

Against this backdrop, TikTok user @ramnathrai52 posted a video showing an image of Nepali Congress leaders including President Sher Bahadur Deuba sitting in a row behind a huge photo of India’s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Congress party put the photo of India’s leader while refusing to celebrate the birthday of late King Prithvi Narayan Shah.”

In the video, a narrator says, “See the Nepali Congress party president Sher Bahadur Deuba, who refused to mark the Prithvi Jayanti, has inaugurated the general convention by putting the photo of India’s Mahatma Gandhi. Are they Nepali or foreigners? It is strange that they [Congress party politicians] have been doing politics in Nepal becoming prime minister of this country and exploiting the Nepali people but putting the photo of India’s Mahatma Gandhi. What kind of General Convention is this?”

The video posted on January 12 has garnered 14.4k likes, 942 users have commented and 4021 people have shared it until the last count.

Newschecker found the claim to be false.

Fact Check / Verification

To check the veracity, Newschecker split the video into several keyframes and ran reverse searches on them. A reverse search on a frame led us to an article, carrying an image resembling the photo carried in the viral video, posted on Madheshvani online. The article, dated October 3, 2019, reported about the 150th Gandhi Jayanti and International Nonviolence day event organised in Kathmandu.  

We also found another article, carrying a photo bearing close resemblance to the viral video, dated October 3, 2019, published on Nayabishwo online. The article also reported about the 150^th Gandhi Jayanti celebration event organised in Kathmandu.

Further, we found an image, dated October 3, 2019, exactly matching the viral video posted on a Facebook page named Hamro Afanai Parampara Krishi.

Thus, our findings clearly showed that the image carried in the viral video is from Gandhi Jayanti Celebration organised in Kathmandu in October 2019. The viral image has nothing to do with the ongoing special general convention of Nepali Congress and Prithvi Jayanti.

Conclusion

No, the Nepali Congress party didn’t put the photo of Mahatma Gandhi at its special general convention. A photo from 2019 Gandhi Jayanti celebration in Kathmandu is being shared as the recent photo from the ongoing special general convention of Nepali Congress. Thus, the claim made by the viral video is exaggerated and false.  

Result: False

Sources
Madheshvani, Oct 3, 2019
Naya Bishwo, Oct 3, 2019