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
CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has asked Mayor of Kathmandu Balen Shah to be ready for becoming a directly elected president.
Fact
No, the viral video shows Dahal telling his party cadres to be prepared for another ‘movement’.
A 10-minute video allegedly showing former Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka ‘Prachanda’ asking Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayor Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ to be prepared for the post of President is going viral on TikTok.
The CPN (Maoist Centre) had been raising the issue of a directly elected executive president even before the first Constituent Assembly elections in 2008.
TikTok user @theycallmesubash posted a video showing CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Dahal delivering his speech. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Prachanda tells Balen Shah to be prepared for the post of directly elected president, Prachanda is known for living up to his words.” The video caption reads the same. In the video, Dahal says, “At present the situation of the world is in turmoil. Some are saying that the third world war has begun. The world war doesn’t start by declaring that the war has begun from this day. With the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel-Palestine, Hamas, Lebanon and Iran, analysts have been saying that the world is on the brink of another war. Questions are raised whether Nepal will become an epicentre of war because of its location between two rising global powers and the conflict between the US and China… Now the time has come once again for our party to get ready for a new political movement and the responsibility for its political, organisational and cultural leadership is upon our party. That’s why all of us need to be ready for it.”
The video posted on October 7 has garnered 6,350 likes, and 123 users have shared it. 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 by the viral video, Newschecker took several key-frames from the viral video and ran reverse searches on them. A Google reverse search on one such image led us to an article published on ukeraa online, dated October 5, 2024, carrying an image whose frame exactly matched the frame from the viral video.
On checking the article published on ukeraa online, we found that the Maoist Chairman was, in fact, addressing an event by the party coordination contact committee, organised in Kathmandu on October 5. The article noted that Dahal, speaking at the programme, said that Maoist party will run for all three-tier elections in 2027 without forging any alliance. However, we didn’t find any reference to Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah in the news.
By using the clues at our disposal, we found another video, dated October 5, 2024, published on the YouTube channel of Kantipur Television. The three-minute long video also matched the viral video.
We also found another news report, dated Oct 5, 2024, published on Lokantar online, which also relayed the same information. We also checked several news articles from the programme but didn’t find any one media outlet stating or reporting that Prachanda told KMC Mayor Balen Shah to be prepared for executive presidency after the next election.
Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, who ran as an independent candidate for Mayor of Kathmandu in 2022, has become popular for his eccentric and fearless approach to development.
The current political system of Nepal is multi-party parliamentary democracy with the executive power resting on the Prime Minister and their cabinet, while legislative power is vested in the Parliament.
Thus, our findings demonstrate the viral video is showing Dahal speaking at an event for his party members, and made no reference to Kathmandu Mayor.
Conclusion
No, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Dahal didn’t tell KMC Balen Shah to be prepared for the post of executive president after the next election. The viral video actually shows Dahal urging his party cadres to be prepared for another movement.
Result: False
Sources
Ukeraa, October 5, 2024
Kantipur TV/YouTube October 5, 2024
Lokaantar, October 5, 2024
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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.
