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
Rastriya Prajatantra Party Vice Chairman Rabindra Mishra said ‘long live Prachanda’ and his ideology.
Fact
Viral video shows Mishra telling the NC and CPN-UML, among other parties, to honour Maoist Chairman Prachanda on the constitution day.
A video allegedly showing senior vice chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Rabindra Mishra allegedly saying long live CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @devendra_subba posted a video showing senior vice chairman of RPP Rabindra Mishra speaking on camera. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Rabindra Mishra says: Long live statesman Prachanda [chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal]; Long live Prachandapath’” In the video Mishra says, “Those of you who are celebrating the constitution day wouldn’t have been able to pride yourself as a republican and progressive without its central figure–Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Don’t you need to appreciate ‘Prachanda’? Congress, CPN-UML and others are only the appendages to Prachanda. Prachanda is the man behind the democratic movement 2006. Present a proposal before the Cabinet to rename the Durbarmarga road as ‘Prachanda Marga’, and hang a big photo of Prachanda at your party offices. Long live statesman Prachada. Long live Prachandapath.” The video also carries a photo of Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.
The video posted on September 22 has garnered 14.7k likes, 1074 users have shared it, and 871 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 authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker first checked the social media pages of Rabindra Mishra and found a video, dated September 19, 2024, posted on Facebook.
On checking the four-minute 28-second long video, we found that Mishra is stressing that the major political parties such as Nepali Congress and CPN-UML can’t ignore Prachanda and his ideology. He goes on to say that it would be ungrateful of the parties to disregard Prachanda while they mark the constitution day. “How could you criticise Prachanda and follow his ideology?” he asks the political parties. He urges the political parties to rename the Durbarmarga road as ‘Prachandamarga’ by immediately tabling the proposal in the Cabinet.
The post accompanying the video has highlighted four points in which Mishra has remarked that those who celebrate the constitution day should chant the slogan, “Long live statesman Prachanda. Long live Prachandapath [Pradhanda’s ideology] before initiating the cultural program at Durbarmarga today.”
Reiterating that he has a different political ideology, Mishra said that he would turn off the light at least for a minute at 8pm on September 19 when the pro-republican forces mark the constitution day. He also made a mockery of the way former rebel Maoists recruited school going children as Maoist guerrillas, while leader Prachanda’s grandchildren are going to elite school. “You [other political parties who followed Prachanda’s agenda] are carrying his progressive ideology . “This is the irony of our society. This is not going to do any good to the country,” he says.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party has espoused democracy and constitutional monarchy as its political ideology.
Thus, our findings clearly show that the RPP vice chairman is saying that the major political parties who followed Prachanda in adopting his republican agenda should honour him on the constitution day.
Conclusion
No, RPP Vice Chairman Rabindra Mishra didn’t not say “long live Prachada and his ideology,” the viral video actually shows him announcing his decision to turn off lights at 8 pm in a symbolic protest on constitution day. The clipped video misconstrued his social media post regarding his position on the constitution day.
Result: False
Sources
Rabindra Mishra/Facebook https://fb.watch/uKr6M4896h/
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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.
