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 Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he became Prime Minister not to build Nepal but to return India’s favour to him.
Fact
Viral video shows unrelated audio and footage to make a baseless claim.
A video claiming that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said that he didn’t become the Prime Minister to build Nepal but to repay the favour of India on him, is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @nepal_aama1 posted a video showing an image of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal with an alleged quote by the Prime Minister reading, “I didn’t become the Prime Minister to build Nepal but to return the favour done by India on me.” Audio accompanying the video says, “Prachanda has billions of rupees. Currently, he has been pondering how to remit 41 billion rupees stashed in Dubai to Nepal. He has given the responsibility to Bam Dev ji. How did he get that 41 billion rupees stashed in the bank of Dubai? You were a leader of Maoist.”
The video posted on December 3 has garnered 270 likes, 60 users have shared it and 11 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 veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker thoroughly checked the viral video and found that the video uses several unrelated footage. Then, we took a cue from the audio of the viral video and conducted a search on Google and found an article, dated November 24, 2018, published on Mirmire Online. The article was about the accusation made by Nepal Communist Party Spokesperson Khadga Bishwokarma ‘Prakanda’ against CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Then, we conducted a search on YouTube by using relevant keywords and found a video published on the YouTube channel named Mobile Khabar. On checking the video, dated November 26, 2018, we found that the audio of the video from 1.52-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video.
Further, we checked for News reports about Nepal’s Prime Minister Dahal’s remarks that he didn’t become the prime minister not to build Nepal but to return the favour India has done upon him. However, we couldn’t find any news report or article that PM Prachanda made such a remark.
Thus, our findings show that the viral video is created by using unrelated video and images to make the false claim.
Conclusion
Viral video claiming that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said that the main reason for him to become the prime minister is not to build Nepal but to repay India’s favour is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Mobile Khabar /YouTube, Nov 26, 2018
Mirmire Online, November 24, 2018
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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.
