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
Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said he will launch a campaign to reinstate monarchy.
Fact
No, Prime Minister Dahal has not made any such announcement.
A video claiming that Prime Minister and Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Daha has publicly announced that he would rather launch a campaign to reinstate monarchy in the country than to hand over power to Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, is going viral on TikTok.
The video goes viral in the wake of PM Dahal’s refusal to step down and readiness to face the vote of confidence in the parliament after his government became minority following the deal between the two largest parties—Nepali Congress and CPN-UML—to form a new government.
In this context, TikTok user @ramapaudel75 posted a video showing several images of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and deposed King Gyanendra Shah. Audio accompanying the video presented in a news bulletin style says, “A bold decision by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at a critical juncture of his political career has made Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli worried. Prime Minister Prachanda made the announcement that he would launch a campaign to reinstate monarchy in the country and hand over the country’s responsibility to deposed King Gyanendra Shah rather than handing over the reins of the government to Nepali Congress and CPN-UML.”
The video posted on July 7 has garnered 13.1k likes, 300 users have shared it and 508 people have commented until the time of publishing this article.
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, we checked the latest news regarding Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s move after his key ally in the government CPN-UML decided to withdraw support for him and joined hands with the opposition Nepali Congress. We found several national and international reports (See here, here & here) confirming that Pushpa Kamal Dahal has refused to resign from his post and decided to seek a vote of confidence in the parliament.
We ran a search on Google by using several Nepali and English keywords to check if Prime Minister Dahal, who led a decade long armed insurgency from 1996, ever made remarks about reinstating monarchy in the country. However, we didn’t find any reports or a verified social media post substantiating that Dahal ever made such a statement.
On checking an article, dated July 5, 2024, published on My Republica online, we found that Prime Minister Dahal is scheduled to seek a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives on July 12.
We also checked his official website and social media posts. But we couldn’t find any statement or remark to verify that PM Dahal has said that he would hand over the reins of the government to the former monarch.
PM Dahal, better known with his conflict-era nom de guerre ‘Prachanda’, led the Maoists rebellion with the primary objective of overthrowing monarchy and establishing a people’s republic through Constituent Assembly elections, and joined mainstream politics after signing a peace deal in November 2006.
Thus, our findings clearly indicate that the claim made in the viral video is misleading.
Conclusion
No, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ hasn’t said that he will launch a campaign to reinstate monarchy in the country. The claim made in the viral video is exaggerated and, thus, misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Indian Express, July 3, 2024
The Kathmandu Post, July 3, 2024
My Republica, July 5, 2024
BBC
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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.
