Pro-AAP propagandist Dhruv Rathee has taken to YouTube to peddle misinformation regarding the Republic Day insurrection. In a video published on the platform on the 28th of January, the YouTuber insinuated that the government had on purpose allowed the Khalistani mob to run riot at Red Fort.
https://twitter.com/Theintrepid_/status/1355498830221852679?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwDuring the video, Dhruv Rathee completely endorses the version of events peddled by the Republic Day insurrectionists and used their statements to insinuate that the government had permitted it to happen. He peddles an entirely one-sided version of events to slander the Delhi Police.
“Some videos have also emerged which show that the Delhi Police personnel are sitting in chairs and watching the ‘tamasha‘ unfold at Red Fort. Flags are being hoisted there and no action is being taken,” he said.
Then Dhruv Rathee proceeds to say, “A huge question arises here, did the Police intentionally permit the protesters to go inside the Red Fort? Secondly, the Police has used tear gas and lathi charged the protesters but people like Dhruv Rathee and his supporters reached the top of the Red Fort and returned as well but they did not suffer so much as a scratch.”
He goes on to add, “Maybe this is the reason that the SKM (Samyukta Kisan Morcha) has alleged that the whole incident is a conspiracy by the government to allow it to happen and then use the media to defame the protesters.”
He concluded saying, “Think a little. If the peaceful protests on Republic Day turn violent, who benefits and who loses? Towards whom will the public support turn to if the protests turn violent?”
In the video, Dhruv Rathee downplays the violence by the rioting mob and instead, placed the blame on the government and the Delhi police. He further draws a false equivalence between the violence unleashed by the murderous mob and the action taken by the Police to halt the rioting to claim that violence flew both ways.
In reality, the Delhi Police has made it abundantly clearly that they refrained from using great force on the rioters because it could have led to unparalleled bloodshed which they were trying to avoid. The propagandist uses the Police’s noble desire to avoid bloodshed to claim that the Red Fort siege was allowed to happen to defame the protesters.
Dhruv Rathee is infamous for his tendency to peddle fake news and has spread numerous fake news in the past to whitewash the deplorable conduct of the Tablighi Jamaat among other things. Previously, he has gone to the extent of claiming that India was not partitioned on religious grounds.