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 and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli Said Nepali Congress Orchestrated the murder of late CPN-UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari.
Fact
No, the viral video is clipped and lacks the context.
A video allegedly showing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is also the chairman of Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), saying that Nepali Congress planned the murder of late UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari.
A charismatic leader, Madan Bhandari died in what is said to be a car accident—which is still a mystery—along with his comrade Jibraj Ashrit, at Dasdhunga of Chitwan district on May 16, 1993. The then General Secretary of CPN-UML, Bhandari propounded People’s Multiparty Democracy, which is now the guiding principle of the CPN-UML.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @realjayghanti posted a video showing a big photo of Madan Bhandari alongside a small clip of KP Sharma Oli speaking on camera. English text superimposed on the image of late Bhandari reads, “Who killed me? About Madan Bhandari’s murder.” In the clip, KP Oli says, “Nepali Congress leaders wanted to charge me with the responsibility to kill Madan Bhandari. But I didn’t agree. When I tried to talk about it I was told to remain silent and I was even threatened to kill. I could not talk about it then. Now I have grown old and got a new life and I must tell the fact that Congress has its hand behind Madan Bhandari’s murder, and the NC government orchestrated the murder. ”
The video caption also reads, “Nepali Congress carried out the murder of Madan Bhandari. Be aware! Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, murderer Nepali Congress can kill Rabi Dai [Rastriya Swatantra Party Rabi Lamichhane].”
Newschecker investigation found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker listened to Prime Minister Oli’s comment on the video and ran a search on Google by using relevant Nepali keywords. The search led us to a short video, dated November 19, 2022, posted on the YouTube Channel named Change of Base TV.
On checking the video, we found that the video exactly matched the clip carried in the viral video. The clip was an excerpt of an interview of KP Oli with Rishi Dhamala in which Oli is heard saying that a Nepali Congress leader named Umesh Giri had made the revelation in a national television that Nepali Congress leader wanted to give him the task of killing Madan Bhandari.
We also found another video, dated May 17, 2023, published on the YouTube channel of Kantipur Television in which KP Sharma Oli says Umesh Giri in an interview had revealed that he was asked to take the responsibility to murder Madan Bhandari but he refused to do so.
Further, we searched for the original interview of KP Sharma Oli by Rishi Dhamala and found the full interview, dated November 16, 2022 published on the YouTube channel of Prime Times HD Television. The video from 56.19-minute onwards exactly matched the viral clip. In the full video, we found KP Sharma Oli was actually speaking about how Umesh Giri claimed that Nepali Congress leader tried to persuade him to kill late CPN-UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video shows an old clip of KP Sharma Oli’s interview in which he spoke about the claim made by Nepali Congress leader Umesh Giri about the murder plan of Madan Bhandari.
Conclusion
No, Prime Minister Oli did not say the Nepali Congress orchestrated the murder of Madan Bhandari. The viral video actually shows an excerpt of an interview in which Oli talks about the claim made by Umesh Giri regarding Madan Bhandari’s murder. The viral clip lacks context, and thus is misleading.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Change of Base TV/YouTube, Nov 19, 2022
Kantipur TV /YouTube, May 17, 2023
Everest Nepal /YouTube, Oct 12, 2022
Prime Times HD, Nov 16, 2022
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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.
