A video of a Sikkimese tribe holding a banner to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May this year, is being falsely linked to the ongoing unrest in Nepal.
The video is being peddled with a false claim that local Nepalis held a rally demanding a leader like Modi.
BOOM found that the video shows the Limboo tribe of Sikkim welcoming the prime minister to the state on the 50th anniversary of its statehood.
Gen Z led anti-corruption protests in Nepal took a violent turn on September 9, 2025 with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli fleeing. Representatives of the protesters have met with military officials at the army headquarters in Kathmandu to discuss possible candidates for an interim prime minister.
The Claim
An X user shared the video with the caption, "Look, bootlickers, Modi is overshadowing even in Nepal, why don't you all drown taking Rahul Gandhi along with you." (Original caption in Hindi: देखो चमचों मोदी नेपाल में भी छाया हुआ है‚ तुम लोग डूब कर मर क्यों नहीं जाते आहुल गांडी को साथ में लेकर के।)
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What We Found
1. Old Video from Sikkim: The text printed on the banner read, "Sikkimese Limboo Tribes warmly welcome to Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi Ji to the state of Sikkim. Sukhim Yakthung Sapsok Songchumbho."
Taking a cue from this, we ran a related keyword search and found a video uploaded by a Facebook user on May 29, 2025 where the people can be seen holding the same banner at 1:31 minutes timestamp. Click here to see.
Sukhim Yakthung Sapsok Songchumbho also uploaded a video of the same rally on their Facebook page on May 30. The caption stated the Limboo tribe under the banner of Sukhim Yakthung Sapsok Songchumbho had prepared to welcome Narendra Modi on May 29 as this year marked the 50th anniversary of Sikkim receiving statehood.
A comparison of the screengrabs of the viral video to that of the rally taken out in Sikkim can be seen below.
2. PM Modi's Sikkim visit: May 29, 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of Sikkim's statehood. To commemorate the occasion Modi was supposed to visit Sikkim on that day. But, due to inclement weather in Gangtok, he could not reach the state and attended the celebrations virtually from Bagdogra, West Bengal.
