Travel vlogger to political ‘influencer’ — how Dhruv Rathee is adding to ringside frenzy this election

Travel vlogger to political ‘influencer’ — how Dhruv Rathee is adding to ringside frenzy this election

New Delhi: YouTuber Dhruv Rathee is a polarising figure—a fearless social media activist to some, and an anti-establishment troublemaker to others. He’s been sharing his bold political takes for nearly a decade, but it was his viral video ‘Is India Becoming a Dictatorship?’, released just before the Lok Sabha elections, that truly made him a phenomenon. Last week, he launched five new channels in Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Bengali, all featuring dubbed versions of the viral video and gathering over 1.3 lakh subscribers within a day.

Rathee’s journey from niche creator to household name, and the virality of his Hindi-language videos, reflects the evolving landscape of media consumption and the increasing demand for opinionated, accessible political content among the Indian public

Raised in a middle-class family in Rohtak, 29-year-old Rathee has said in one of his videos that he had little interest in politics until he became acquainted with the India Against Corruption movement in 2011, spearheaded by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. Back then, the Congress was in power, and Rathee is no fan of that party either. In a video titled ‘The Real Stoy of Dhruv Rathee’ last year, he pronounced himself as “100% anti-Congress”.

On his website, the Germany-based mechanical engineering graduate calls himself a “YouTube educator, activist, and travel vlogger” committed to making “objective, concise and simplified explanations of complex issues on a variety of subjects.” In a Frontline interview, he said he creates content in Hindi not just because it’s his mother tongue but because there’s “lack of high-quality educational content” in the language. But what really draws in viewers is his no-holds-barred political videos, which have helped him notch over 18 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel.

Rahul Sharma, a 22-year-old postgraduate student and civil services aspirant from Dehradun, said he is a regular visitor to Rathee’s channel because the videos help him understand various difficult issues.

“He engages his viewers while explaining the topic,” said Sharma. “Initially, I didn’t like him much because I was more of a pro-government guy but his videos actually made me see certain issues in a different light. Even though I don’t agree with him on all the topics, his videos are well researched.”

ThePrint contacted Rathee via WhatsApp, but a member of his team responded that he did not wish to contribute his comment to this article.

Evolution of the Dhruv Rathee Show

Driven by a passion for YouTube and filmmaking, Dhruv Rathee began creating content in 2014 while studying in Germany, beginning with travel vlogs. By 2017, he had hit a milestone of 50,000 subscribers, but his focus was already shifting toward more politically charged content.

Two years into his vlogging, Rathee began focusing primarily on calling out the ruling BJP with videos like ‘Surgical Strike’, ‘Andh Bhakts and Their Logic’, ‘EVM Hacking’, ‘Reality of Yogi Adityanath’, and ‘3 Years of Modi Exposed’. His blunt style brought him to the forefront as a political content creator at a time when few dared to tread these waters.

Not everyone took kindly to his opinions. In 2018, he was even confronted with a police complaint following his video ‘BJP IT Cell part – 2’, but that didn’t stop him. He expanded his content to include fact-checking videos and launched Pee News, a mock news programme that parodied popular news channels, though this segment is no longer available in his video playlist. He also launched ‘The Dhruv Rathee Show’, collaborating with other YouTubers, including journalist and satirist Akash Bannerjee, who runs the channel ‘The Desh-Bhakt’.

As his content matured, Rathee brought more research into his work, and he is now reportedly supported by a team of about a dozen people. Besides his political videos, he also produces popular ‘how-to’ guides such as ‘How to Spot Fake News,’ ‘How to Boycott ‘Made in China’ Products,’ ‘How to Save Rivers,’ and ‘7 Tips to Get a Job.’  But it’s still his political videos that get the most traction, with the ‘Is India Becoming A Dictatorship?’  amassing over 23 million views on YouTube.

‘Multiplier effect’

For some, Dhruv Rathee’s ‘Dictator’ video asked tougher questions than India’s political opposition, but critics argue that it’s easy to make bombastic content from the safety of another country. Rathee has been living in Germany for years since moving there for his mechanical engineering degree and recently married his long-time girlfriend Juli Lbr in Vienna.

Even so, Rathee’s outspokenness has not been without consequence. In September 2022, the Indian government blocked his video ‘Analyzing Imran Khan’s Electoral Loss: Political Turmoil in Pakistan’, citing incorrect depiction of Indian territory within Pakistan’s borders, according to ministry statements.

And for Rathee’s supporters, his physical distance from India is irrelevant.

“At least he is saying it, even if it means sitting far away from India and bringing attention to what’s lost behind the biases of mainstream media,” said M-Tech student Rahul Sharma, quoted earlier.

Watching Rathee’s videos, it becomes readily apparent that he’s not breaking new ground or offering fresh facts. Instead, his impact comes from his ‘fearless’ persona and knack for distilling public domain information into accessible content. For younger audiences who are still trying to understand the dynamics of Indian politics, Rathee’s videos are an informative and entertaining entry point. While ThePrint can’t pinpoint the exact age demographic of Rathee’s audience, comments and engagement on Twitter suggest a big youth following.

“I would describe Dhruv as not a political expert, but as a political opinion-maker, political educator, or political influencer,” said YouTuber Mohak Mangal, who runs his own channel ‘Soch’ and collaborated with Rathee in 2020 for a few political videos.

Mangal added that Rathee has been able to create an “engaged community” over the years. “He knows how YouTube and content creation works, there is some art and science to it, from the timing and the thumbnail to the title and hook in the intro—he understands them well,” he said.

The impact of this content should also not be underestimated, according to Mangal.

“When you make politically charged or emotionally engaging content about things that the mainstream media is not talking about, there is a multiplier effect,” he said. “People can see that institutions are crumbling but nobody really talks about it and suddenly someone does and that makes the community rise up.”

When Rathee posted the ‘Dictatorship’ video, it quickly trended of X with the hashtags #DhruvRathee and #dictator. While often criticised for focusing solely on the BJP, Rathee fills a vacuum that the mainstream media cannot fulfill—unbridled criticism of the ruling establishment.

In an interview with Akash Banerjee this month, Rathee clarified that he operates independently, without funding from any political party. He also claimed that he rejected an offer from a prominent party in South India.

So far, Rathee has not expressed any desire to join politics. In an older Q&A video titled ‘Who is Dhruv Rathee?’, the then 25-year-old Rathee was clear about his intentions. “I can’t say about the distant future, but for the next ten years, I can guarantee that I have no interest in joining politics,” he said. “I love making videos and educating people, so I will continue to do this for the foreseeable future.”

(Edited by Asavari Singh)