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Nepali Communist Party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' among other leaders joined the protest following the death of Ganesh Nepali who died after self-immolation.
No, Prachanda didn't join the protest after Ganesh Nepali's death. The viral video is old and unrelated.
A video allegedly showing Nepali Communist Party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ among other leaders chanting slogans against the Balen administration following the death of Ganesh Nepali is going viral on TikTok.
Ganesh Nepali, 25, a ride- sharing driver from Soru Rural Municipality-1 in the remote Mugu district, died of serious burn injuries at Bir Hospital on July 10. Nepali sprinkled petrol on his body and set himself on fire in Tripureshwor on July 9 after an altercation with Kathmandu Metropolitan Police officers.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @waheed.ansary posted a video showing a huge protest led by senior leaders of Nepali Communist Party including former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, NarayanKaji Shrestha and Dev Gurung. The video also carries photos of Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Death of Ganesh Nepali after his self-immolation sparks outrage. Down with incompetent government.” In the background, the protesters are heard chanting, “Down with the Balen government. Down with regressive conspiracy.”
The video posted on July 11 has garnered 5816 likes, 436 users have shared it and 947 people have commented until the last count.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker split the video into several key-frames and ran reverse searches on them. The search led us to a video, dated March 28, 2025, posted on a Facebook page named Prayash Media. The video exactly matched the viral clip, indicating that the video is at least 15 months old. The video caption reads, “Prachanda, Narayankaji Shrestha and Dev Grung chanting slogans on the street.”
Taking clues from the video, we ran keyword searches on YouTube and found another video, dated October 27, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel named Vision Nepal HD. The video frame at 2:8-minute time-stamp showing Nepali Communist Party leader Prachanda, and Narayankaji Shrestha bore close resemblance to the viral clip. On checking the video, we found that the video actually showed the leaders of then Maoists (now Nepali Communist Party) participating in a march before turning into a protest assembly at Exhibition road in Kathmandu.
Further, we found another video, dated October 26, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel of Space 4k Television. On checking the video, we found the video frame resembled the viral clip. The video depicted a reporting on the show of mass and protest assembly organised by then CPN (Maoist Centre) against CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli led government. We also noticed a banner carried by senior Maoists leaders during the march led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.
Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the viral clip was actually from October 2024 when the then Maoists party organised an anti-government rally. The protest has nothing to do with the death of Ganesh Nepali, who died after self-immolation.
No, Nepali Communist Party leader Prachanda did not come out to lead the protest after the death of Ganesh Nepali, who died due to injuries after his self-immolation. The viral video from October 2024 actually shows the anti-government protest by then CPN (Maoist Centre).
Sources
Prayash Media, March 28, 2025
Vision Nepal HD/YouTube Oct 27, 2024
Space 4K Television/YouTube Oct 26, 2024
Misleading
