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, but Rathee was firmly ‘anti-establishment’ even then — in one of his early videos, he pronounced that he was “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…