Dhruv Rathee: The YouTube Educator, Activist, and Travel Vlogger Redefining Digital Influence? 

Dhruv Rathee is a controversial character; while some see him as a daring social media activist, others see him as a disruptive force against the status quo. He has been expressing his daring political views for almost ten years. Still, it was his widely shared video ‘Is India Becoming a Dictatorship?’ that catapulted him into the public eye shortly before the Lok Sabha elections. He recently increased his reach by introducing five more channels, each with dubbed versions of the viral video, in Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. In a single day, these channels attracted almost 1.3 lakh subscribers. 

The rise in popularity of Rathee’s Hindi-language videos and his own journey from a niche content creator to a household celebrity highlight the changing nature of media consumption and the increasing need for political content that is easily accessible and opinionated among the Indian public. 

Raised in a middle-class Rohtak family, Rathee, 29, once acknowledged in his videos that, prior to joining Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal’s India Against Corruption movement in 2011, he had little interest in politics. Rathee voiced his dissatisfaction of the Congress party, which was in power at the time. He identified himself “100% anti-Congress” in a film released last year titled “The Real Story of Dhruv Rathee.” 

Dedicated to providing “objective, concise, and simplified explanations of complex issues on a variety of subjects,” Rathee, a mechanical engineering graduate, describes himself on his website, which is situated in Germany, as a “YouTube educator, activist, and travel vlogger.” The “lack of high-quality educational content” in Hindi, he said in an interview with Frontline, is another reason he decides to produce stuff in the language instead of just using Hindi, which is his mother tongue. On his primary YouTube channel, he has over 18 million subscribers, but it’s his frank political videos that really grab viewers’ attention. 

“He keeps his audience engaged while elucidating the topic,his videos are thoroughly researched.” 

Source data from : https://theprint.in/india/travel-vlogger-to-political-influencer-how-dhruv-rathee-is-adding-to-ringside-frenzy-this-election/2053782/