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Prime Minister Balendra Shah's policy made an Indian trader cry.
No, the viral video shows a trader from Meerut of Uttar Pradesh state of India crying after his shop in the central market was sealed.
A video allegedly showing an Indian trader crying after Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s policy has gone viral on TikTok.
The video is going viral amid reports of sharp decline in cross-border business in the markets of India after Nepal government’s strict enforcement of customs duties on goods worth more than Rs100 brought from Indian markets.
A TikTok user @jay.nepal986 posted a video showing a man talking to a reporter. In the video, the Indian trader breaks down while talking in Hindi, “All shops are closed. No one is opening their shops. It has been 45 years since we were doing business here. Where will we go now? What can we do? How can we pay our vehicle loan?” Text superimposed on the video reads, “Balen has done a good job. Hue and cry in India. Balen administration’s power in India.”
Below the clip, the video also carries a photo of Prime Minister Balendra Shah and his party (Rastriya Swatantra Party) chairman Rabi Lamichhane holding banner reading, “Kalapani and Lipulekh is ours, others have no right to it, please comment if it right or wrong.”
The video posted on May 25 has garnered 23.4k likes, 1349 users have shared it and 391 people have commented until the last count.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
To check the authenticity of the video, Newschecker took several key-frames from the viral video and ran reverse searches on them. A reverse search on a frame led us to a video, dated April 12, 2026, posted on a Facebook account named Eldho Jobi John. The video bore close resemblance to the clip carried in the viral video. On checking the video caption, we found that the person is a trader from Meerut of Uttar Pradesh. In the video, the trader says, “We used to campaign for BJP. But as long as I live, I will say this to everyone— never vote for BJP.”
We also found the same clip, dated April 11 posted on the X (formerly twitter) of Indian Congress.
Taking a clue from the video, we checked the YouTube channel of News Channel and found a video, dated April 11, posted on the Channel. On checking the video, we found that the clip from timestamp 2:44-minute to 3:03 –minute exactly matched the viral clip.
We found several news reports (See here, here & here) about the sealing of 44 buildings and shops, including several major commercial hubs, after the Supreme Court order.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral was made by combining unrelated photos of and videos. The viral clip actually shows a Meerut trader displaced after the sealing of shops in the central market in Uttar Pradesh.
No, Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s policy has not made an Indian trader cry. The viral video is exciting by including a clip showing displaced traders in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh state of India.
Sources
Eldho Jobi John /Facebook, April 11, 2026
Indian Congress/X (formerly Twitter), April 11, 2026
News Capsule/YouTube, April 11, 2026
Times of India, April 9, 2026
News9live , April 12, 2026
Misleading
