Protesters in Nepal ousted the prime minister and set parliament ablaze over the government’s ban on social media and corruption allegations — but in neighbouring India, the violence is being misrepresented online as something else entirely: a religious uprising.<\/p>\n
While some claim that the demonstrations are a demand for a “Hindu state”, others say the opposite — that they are an attack on the faith.<\/p>\n
Fuelling the narrative are allegations from Indian broadcasters and politicians that rioters vandalised<\/a> Nepal’s Pashupatinath temple, a revered Hindu site in the Himalayan nation.<\/p>\n Screenshot of a false X post, with a red X added by AFP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n “Some rioters, hiding within the crowd of protesters, attempted to vandalise the temple, and it was only after this incident that the army was deployed,” an anchor<\/a> for the right-wing Zee News television channel said in a report featuring a clip of people climbing onto the temple’s gate and violently shaking it.<\/p>\n Jivesh Mishra, a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in eastern Bihar state, which shares a border with Nepal, told reporters on Wednesday: “An attack on a temple is an attack on (the) Hindu faith.”<\/p>\n Right-wing influencers also amplified the claim to their thousands of followers.<\/p>\n But AFP fact-checkers traced<\/a> the footage to a religious ritual called Naxal Bhagwati Jatra, filmed weeks before the violence.<\/p>\n KN Swami<\/a>, a renowned monk in the temple, also posted clips on social media to refute claims it had been attacked (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n “I am currently inside the temple, and everything is peaceful here,” he confirmed to AFP on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Nepal’s demonstrations<\/a> began Monday in the capital Kathmandu, driven by angry young protesters who dubbed themselves the “Gen Z” movement.<\/p>\n The protests escalated into an outpouring of rage nationwide, with government buildings set ablaze<\/a> after a deadly crackdown. KP Sharma Oli quit<\/a> as prime minister shortly after demonstrators set fire to his house.<\/p>\n Hundreds of social media posts have claimed without evidence that the protests were “instigated and funded” by “anti-Hindu forces and Islamists” to attack religious sites.<\/p>\n Nepal, a secular republic since 2008, has witnessed frequent demonstrations by groups demanding a return to Hindu statehood.<\/p>\n Old visuals of the rallies resurfaced online this week, misleadingly presented as the current protests.<\/p>\n Footage of protesters calling for a Hindu monarchy in the past was falsely shared as evidence that Nepal’s “Gen Z” movement is more about religion than corruption.<\/p>\n‘Instigated and funded’<\/h2>\n