2 Bit NRI YouTuber Dhruv Rathee is on govt’s radar

We live in an age of too much information. At this current juncture of time, any Tom, Dick and Harry can take a mike and present themselves as a source of authentication.

Apparently, people handling YouTube algorithms rejoice in forwarding the misinformationists like Dhruv Rathee. But at the end of the day, inevitable had to happen and now he is under the government’s radar.

45 YouTube videos were taken down

India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B ministry) has directed YouTube to stop the broadcasting of 45 YouTube videos from 10 channels. I&B’s order is based on the reports from the intelligence agencies.

According to the official notification, the videos contained false claims, violent threats against religious communities, declaration of civil war in India, among others.

The Ministry further noted that Agnipath scheme, Indian Armed Forces, India’s national security apparatus, Kashmir were main targets of these agents of misinformation.

The Ministry has also stated that such videos create communal disharmony, disrupt public order in the country and disrupt friendly relations with foreign countries as well.

Dhruvi Rathee spread fake map

One of the video included in the category of banned ones, was released by Dhruv Rathee. Without naming him, the I&B Ministry wrote, “Certain videos depicted erroneous external boundary of India with parts of J&K and Ladakh outside the Indian territory. Such cartographic misrepresentation was found to be detrimental to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India”.

The blocked videos include one from YouTuber Dhruv Rathee’s YouTube channel which shows parts of Indian Territory in Pakistan and another video from a different channel spreading misinformation about CISF. https://t.co/hZT4bs3ETR pic.twitter.com/dv7s7cKwI0

— Akhilesh Sharma (@akhileshsharma1) September 26, 2022

Duggal Sahab’s fake news against Modi government and Adani

This is not the only time when Dhruv Rathee has come under public scrutiny for spreading such unauthenticated and frankly fake data and citations.

This man, who is popularly known as “Duggal Sahab” for convincing himself about being expert on everything under the sun, is infamous for presenting the fake data to suit his narrative. His fame mainly owes to his open criticism and supposedly ‘fact-based’ shattering of the Modi government.

But, almost always a deeper inspection of his facts and sources reveal the story to be something different. Sometimes, the real story takes a 360 degree shift. In 2019, the YouTuber had spread fake news that the Modi government had sold off 1,70,000 hectares of land to Adanis.

Apparently, it was propelled in order to fit in the narrative peddled by Congress against the Modi government. Congress has always maintained that the Modi government is Suit-Boot ki Sarkar. Suit represents big business houses in the jibe.

However, Adani group was in no mood to let go this lie scot free. Right under Rathee’s fake news tweet, Adani group told him to remove the misinformation propaganda. Adani group reasoned that there is no evidence available to substantiate Dhruv’s claim.

Apparently, Adani group had not bought any such land. Fearing the legal consequences, Rathee deleted the tweet but did not forget to play the victim card.

The Adani Group strongly objects factually incorrect and malicious claims made by you. We have not acquired the referred piece of land nor has the government sold it to us. We do not own any mine in Chhattisgarh. We urge you to withdraw the fake news to avoid legal consequences.

— Adani Group (@AdaniOnline) March 21, 2019

I deleted the tweet because I do not want legal responsibilities for quoting out of newspapers.

Here is another report of the same issue, have a look how Chowkidaar Modi is selling India’s forests – https://t.co/JnUBuRYrML

— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) March 21, 2019

List of lies is long

Apparently, Dhruv did not learn from his a year old experience. In 2018, this man took advantage of the hara-kiri caused due to floods in Kerala. In his attempt to villainise the BJP, he went on to claim that BJP ruled states have not allocated even a rupee in the form of assistance toward flood-hit Kerala.

But, the fact was exactly opposite and lots of BJP ruled states had contributed towards increasing the livelihood circumstances in Southern states. Soon, people made him realise this, as a result of which Rathee deleted his Facebook post.

Later, Rathee posted another update in which he included a list of BJP states which had contributed towards Kerala flood relief. He now claimed that it was only three to four hours after his post that these BJP states allocated funds to the state of Kerala.

Ad hominem attack

Apparently, Dhruv has been exposed so many times that people have even forgotten the count. Threads after threads have been published on websites like Quora and others to expose the hollowness of his narratives.

He seems to be so anti-government that he even went on to claim that Pakistan was much happier than India, based on the World Happiness Report 2021.

Apparently, when a YouTuber named Karolina Goswami called him out, he launched an ad hominem attack and called her ‘low level people’.

There are two kinds of people. One, who uses facts to build a narrative and the other, who find a narrative and then hunt for facts, Rathee belongs to the second category, the same which Nazi scientists belong to.

Ultimate results may not be as severe but the methods are the same. No one would want a civil conflict due to the Internet. Therefore, it is a commendable step by the Modi government.