Dhruv Rathee, the infamous Youtuber and social media activist has been once again caught spreading fake news. He tweeted about how the Modi government sold forest land in Chhattisgarh to the Adani group. “Congrats Bhakton! Modi just sold off 170,000 hectares of most dense forests in India to Adani! Env. Ministry gave clearance for coal mining in Hasdeo forests to a subsidiary of Adani enterprises. In 2009, Env Ministry had made these forests a No-Go Zone for their richness,” tweeted Rathee. However when the Adani Group pointed out factual inaccuracy in the tweet and threatened legal action against him, Rathee deleted the tweet.
https://twitter.com/SquintNeon2/status/1108815261048754176
“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,” replied the official Twitter handle of the Adani Group. Caught red handed and fearing legal consequences, Rathee deleted the tweet. “I deleted the tweet because I do not want legal responsibilities for quoting out of newspapers,” he tweeted.
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
This is not the first time that Mr Rathee has been caught for spreading fake news. He regularly spreads fake news against the Modi government in order to further his agenda. Earlier during the devastating Kerala floods, Rathee claimed that the BJP ruled states had not allocated even a rupee in the form of assistance for flood-hit Kerala on his Facebook page. Later when he realized that he has been caught red handed as several BJP states have contributed funds to aid Kerala flood victims, Rathee deleted the disgraceful post.
Before that Vikas Pandey, founder of ‘I Support NaMo’ had filed a criminal case against Rathee along with Kejriwal and co. over fake accusations against him. Rathee has indulged in cheap tactics by making fake allegations and then trying to claim innocence and making more unsubstantiated claims thereafter.
A few weeks back he shared a screenshot regarding the amount BJP supporter pages were spending on ads and promotion. However, a Facebook user soon exposed Rathee’s hypocrisy by pointing to one of his heavily promoted videos on YouTube. Rathee’s video related to Dassault’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal is on the top of the list if one searches the keyword ‘Rafale deal’.
When the FB user confronted Rathee regarding the promotion initially, he instantly claimed that the image was a fake one and was photoshopped. He went on to add that he never spent any money on the promotion of his videos on YouTube. However, when other users pointed out the same fact with screenshots and videos, he finally accepted it but made a vague argument. In his defense, Dhruv made a bizarre statement that he had no idea who is promoting his page. “Then it looks like some unknown person is doing promotion on my name. It’s being done from my account and I have no idea who is doing it,” said Rathee.
The videos produced by Dhruv Rathee are mostly ideologically polarized. The intent is not to provide information but to serve an agenda. He spews ‘gyaan’ in short You Tube videos, on topics ranging from ‘How to start a business’ to ‘fake news’ and none of these are his area of expertise. Dhruv Rathee claims to be an expert in every stream- economics, history, political science, finance, business studies, defense expert and what not. When in reality, Dhruv Rathee does not even have a degree in any of these subjects. His anti-Modi government stance has made him a favorite of the Left-liberal media establishment. NDTV anchor Ravish Kumar interviewed him like a fan boy and promoted his channel and page. It seems the only credibility one needs to have is to be anti-Modi to get promoted by the Indian mainstream media.