Fact Check: Old Video Circulating Claims Manisha Koirala Supports Hindu Rashtra in Nepal

People are spreading a lie that an old video of Nepali actor Manisha Koirala talking about how Nepal is a Hindu country and criticizing its secular status was something she said during the 2024 Indian Lok Sabha elections.

The video was found to be from November 2022 and has nothing to do with the current Lok Sabha poll.

The popular video shows an interview in which Koirala talks about Nepal’s history as a Hindu country and criticizes the country’s decision to become secular. It’s part of Nepal’s character that it has always been a Hindu country, she says. Religious differences have never caused a fight in our country. No one is dying or fighting here. We were a peaceful Hindu rashtra where there were no fights. She asks, “Why was it taken away?” She also says that the idea of Nepal becoming a neutral country made her feel like there was a scam going on.

The video was shared on X with the description, “Manisha Koirala supports Hindu Rashtra and says that leftist/communist and congress-style democracies are ruining Nepal.”

“Manisha Koirala is totally right,” said someone else on Facebook. Communists and missionaries worked together to get rid of Nepal’s Hindu monarchy and turn it into a secular country so that they could convert the Himalayan region to Christianity.

BOOM found that the interview took place in November 2022 and that Koirala’s comments are being wrongly linked to India and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

We used Google to do a reverse image search of some key frames from the video that went popular and found a link to a TikTok post that said, “Manisha Koirala in Satya Sambad.”

Then, we did a keyword search on YouTube and found the original interview that was posted by the Nepalese channel Yoho Television HD on November 16, 2022.

Part of this video from 20:42 that went viral was an exact copy of the part that went viral.

This is the second time Koirala has talked about her dislike of Nepal’s secular status. The first time was in an interview a few days before the November 20 general election. Ksenia Koirala, who is the granddaughter of BP Koirala, Nepal’s first elected Prime Minister, said in an Indian Express article from March 26, 2010, that “Nepal never had any dispute over the issue of religion.” The Hindu state was fine as it was, so there was no reason to change its position.