I came to Bengaluru to meet deleted voters: Dhruv Rathee to TNM

“I’m not on anyone’s payroll. I’m not here for a regime change,” Dhruv Rathee told TNM in an exclusive interview. The YouTuber and influencer was in Bengaluru for the CJP-led protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls while demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.This marks a significant shift for one of India’s best-known online voices, moving from digital activism to on-the-ground mobilisation. This is the first time that Dhruv Rathee is attending a physical protest. Talking about why he felt the need to announce that he was at the protest not to bring about a regime change, he said, “As soon as I entered, coincidentally the Elon Musk news came. So people were making these conspiracy theories if my presence was connected to it or not. That’s why I wanted to clarify that I’m not on anyone’s payroll, I’m not here for a regime change. I’m just here to raise issues that concern every Indian. And every Indian should fight for these issues.”  Dhruv’s reference was to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk’s accusation that “certain oligarchs” in India were obstructing the launch of its Starlink satellite broadband service in the country, even questioning if industrialist Mukesh Ambani was the “real boss” of India. About his impressions of the protest, he said, “It was crazy to see the energy of the people and how much they supported me, how much they were supporting the cause. That’s what made me enthusiastic to speak in front of them.” Talking about the CJP and their demands, he said, “I have always supported them from the beginning, even before they started the protests against the Education Minister [Dharmendra Pradhan]. I agree with their demands, first, that the Chief Election Commissioner should resign. Second, a new unbiased and neutral CEC should replace him. Thirdly, the rollback of SIR changes.” As he heads to Delhi where there is an unprecedented amount of security personnel deployed before the October 10 march called by the CJP, he said, “All I can say is that all the police personnel I’ve met are supporters of our cause. Of course some of them are compelled to do things because the order comes from above. If things really fall apart, I hope that most of them will decide to stand by the country instead of their job.” When asked about the INDIA bloc making the same demands regarding the SIR and CEC, Dhruv said, “I think it’s good that all the opposition parties are on the streets and they are united. It’s good to get support from all political parties and all sections of society. I read that farmers are coming to Delhi, students should also come, women should also come. It doesn’t matter if you are Gen Z, Gen X or a millennial. It doesn’t matter if you are a Congress voter, AAP voter or even a BJP voter. This issue concerns every single citizen in the country and we should all be united in protesting against this and demanding that the country has better laws to protect voting rights.”