Minister Sobita Gautam Chanted Slogan Against PM Balendra Shah? No, Viral Clip Is Edited

A video allegedly showing Law Minister Sobita Gautam chanting slogans against Prime Minister Balendra Shah is going viral on TikTok.

The video is going viral at a time when Prime Minister Balendra Shah was facing criticism after spoke in the Parliament about the Nepal-India border dispute, saying that “not only India but Nepal has also encroached on Indian territory in many places.”

Against this backdrop, TikTok user @user0068331 posted a video carrying a clip of Law Minister Sobita Gautam delivering a speech criticising the prime minister. In the speech, Gautam chants the slogan, “Down with the Prime Minister. Down with the Nepal government.” Text superimposed on the video reads, “Sobita Gautam after Balen’s statement. The Minister herself spoke against Balen.” The video also carries another clip of Prime Minister Balendra Shah.

The video posted on June 6 has garnered 9326 likes, 815 users have liked it and 293 people have commented until the last count.

Newschecker found the claim to be edited.

Fact Check /Verification

To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker split the video into several key-frames and ran reverse searches on them. A reverse search led us to a video, dated November 7, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel Darpan Dainik.

On checking the video, we found that the video bore a close resemblance to the clip showing Sobita Gautam’s speech carried in the viral. However, we could not find the exact clip matching the footage carried in the viral video. In the video from November 2024, then Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Sobita Gautam was criticising the then government for the arrest of RSP Chairman Rabi Lamichhane in cooperative fraud.

We also found a news article, dated November 5, 2024, carrying a photo resembling the frame from the viral video showing Sobita Gautam. The article titled, “Sobita Gautam said the world is watching the vendetta against us,’ reported about Gautam’s speech during a protest organised in Pokhara.

Further, we found a video, dated November 5, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel named Loktantra Times TV. On checking the video, we found that the video clip from 5:28-minute to 5:35-minute exactly matched the viral video. The video showed Sobita Gautam’s speech during the RSP’s protest against the arrest of Rabi Lamichhane in November 2024.

Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video showed an old clip of then RSP lawmaker Sobita Gautam criticising the then Prime minister KP Sharma Oli and his.

Conclusion

No, Minister Sobita Gautam has not criticised Prime Minister Balendra Shah for his speech in the parliament regarding the territorial issues between Nepal and India. The viral clip is actually from November 2024 when she launched a scathing attack on the government for the arrest of Rabi Lamichhane. The viral video is edited by using an unrelated clips, and thus is misleading.  

Sources
Darpan Dainik /YouTube, Nov 7, 2024
Loktantra Times TV/YouTube, Nov 5, 2024
Nepal Views, Nov 5, 2024