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
CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ threatened to jail Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Fact
No, viral video shows Maoists Chairman Dahal addressing an event of socialist front Nepal.
A video allegedly showing CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal challenging to jail Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and to settle scores for framing Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @news_supporter24hrs posted a video showing CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Dahal, who is more famous for his nom de guerre Prachanda, delivering a speech. The video also carries a collage of CPN-UML Chairman and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane and Communist Party Of Nepal General Secretary Netra Bikram ‘Biplav’. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Prachanda issued a challenge in front of Oli. He said score will be settled on January 31 with those complicit in framing Rabi Lamichhane. I am not Prachanda if I can’t jail you.”
In the video clip, Dahal says, “The ordinances have been brought in an undemocratic manner. The manner in which the government tried to push the ordinances against its own principle is autocratic and undemocratic. The government invited the parliamentary session only after we warned of calling a special session if the government did not. We have decided to hold a meeting of the opposition parties ahead of the Jan 31 House session in order to stand united against the government’s anti-people activities such as increasing billions of rupees in loans to deepen the economic crisis. We are trying to take ahead of the opposition. Our attempts to give momentum to the socialist front is driven by our concern for the nation and responsibility towards the people. This is not a tactical issue but perfectly calculated moves driven by ideology and principle… We should also try to strengthen our own parties and activate the front and work towards unification.”
The video posted on January 28 has garnered 3978 likes, 80 users have shared it and 113 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 key frame from the viral video and ran a reverse search on it. A Google reverse search on the frame led us to a video, dated January 28, posted on the YouTube channel named Makalu Khabar. On checking the video, we found that the video frame from 18:08-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. On listening to the entire speech, we neither found Maoist leader Dahal threatening KP Sharma Oli to jail nor did we find him issuing warning to those involved in framing RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane.
Further, we found another video from the same program published on Facebook page of Deshsanchar online. The video title read, “Government brought ordinances without even withdrawing the bills pending in the parliament: Pushpa Kamal Dahal.”
We also found an article, dated January 28, published on Nepalkhabar online. The article reported that Maoist Chairman Dahal, while speaking at a programme organised by Socialist Front in Kathmandu, criticised the government‘s move to bring ordinances in an undemocratic and autocratic manner.
On checking the entire article, we didn’t find any mention of Prachanda threatening to jail KP Oli.
Thus, our findings showed the claim made in the viral video is misleading and he was referring to the House session slated for January 28.
Conclusion
No, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ didn’t say that he will jail KP Sharma Oli. The viral video actually shows Dahal criticising the government’s autocratic move to bring ordinances.
Result: False
Sources
Mero Lagani /YouTube, Jan 28, 2025
Deshsanchar /Facebook, Jan 28, 2025
Nepal Khabar, Jan 28, 2025
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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.
