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
Members of Parliament (MPs) engaged in a fist-fight during a parliamentary sub-committee meeting.
Fact
No, viral video shows MPs Raj Kishor Yadav and Prem Suwal engaged in a heated argument.
A video claiming that Members of Parliament (MPs) Raj Kishor Yadav and Prem Suwal engaged in a fist-fight during a meeting of parliamentary sub-committee is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @mr.prakash_961 posted a video showing a heated debate between Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal (JSPN) MP Raj Kishor Yadav and Nepal Majdoor Kishan Party (NMKP) MP Prem Suwal. In the 1:37-minute video Yadav is heard yelling at Suwal saying, “Put your finger down. How could you stage a drama? There are several big parties—first, second and third.” And the video shows Suwal retorting, “Don’t you behave like a Rana oligarchy? When I expressed my disagreement you are responding like Rana autocrat. You will be removed from this committee. You are alone and I am alone. Why are you being so arrogant? Should you not ask me as the chairman of the committee when I said I have reservations? You should not be a puppet of big parties. Try to be the leader of the committee.”
Text superimposed on the video reads, “Raj Kishro Yadav and Prem Suwal had a heated argument at committee meeting, Yadav is an MP of JSPN and Suwal is an MP of NMKP. Lawmaker engaged in a brawl.
The video posted on January 9 has garnered 223 likes, and five users have shared it and 10 people have commented until the last count.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker took a key-frame from the viral video and ran a reverse on it. A Google reverse on a frame from the viral video threw up several videos matching the viral video.
On checking a video, dated January 9, 2025, published on the YouTube channel of Kantipur Television, we found that the video exactly matched the viral clip. However, the vide title didn’t show or mention that the MPs engaged in a fist fight.
We then conducted key words searches on Google by using the clues at our disposal and found an article, dated January 9, 2025, published on Ratopati online. On checking the article, we found that lawmaker Yadav, who is the chairperson of the International Relations and Tourism Committee of the House of Representatives, had a heated exchange with Nepal Majdoor Kishan Party MP Prem Suwal during the committee meeting in Singha Durbar.
The article noted that the argument followed when MP Suwal questioned Yadav’s disregard for his disagreement. Chairperson Yadav lost his cool and reacted angrily accusing Suwal of creating drama, the article reported.
We also found another article published on Setopati which confirmed that the viral video shows a heated debate between Yadav and Suwal during a parliamentary sub-committee meeting. However, there was no fist-fight as claimed in the viral video.
Conclusion
No, MPS Yadav and Suwal did not engage in fist-fight during the meeting of the parliamentary sub-committee. The viral video actually shows an argument between MP Yadav and Suwal.
Result: False
Sources
Kantipur TV/YouTube Jan 9, 2025
Ratopati, Jan 9, 2025
Setopati, Jan 9, 2025
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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.
