A controversy erupted after actress Jahnvi Kapoor shared an Instagram story about the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh. Hours after she posted the story, Dhruv Rathe trolled her on his video, leading to several suspicions and debate on the internet.
In her story, Kapoor called the killing in Bangladesh “barbaric”, which also led to trolls from several Islamist groups. Talking about Dipu Chandra Das’s lynching, she wrote that such events show the social hypocrisy of a culture, and show how people condemn such acts when they occur outside their countries, but continue to promote them in other places.
The story was in relation to the brutal killing of Das, who was lynched by an Islamist mob in Mymensingh’s Bhaluka Upazila of Bangladesh on the night of 18th December. As per reports, the mob accused him of blasphemy, which led to beating and eventual death. The atrocious accident was recorded on camera, the video of which was widely circulated on the internet, causing rage and alarm. The groups were heard chanting Islamist slogans while they continued to beat him to death.
Hours after Jahnvi posted the story on her Instagram handle, Dhruv Rathe, the German-based YouTuber, posted a thumbnail of his upcoming video, titled “dark side of beauty”, with Jahnvi’s image on it. The timing of both these incidents started speculations as to a deliberate attempt by Rathe to distract people from Jahnvi’s post and make her instantly irrelevant.
Several users did not stop at mere speculations and went on to highlight the timings, leading to controversy over the story and the video. Users on X called out Rathe for being extremely propaganda-driven and manipulative. Not just the normal population, but leaders, including BJP leader Radhika Kher, also wrote on her X, in support of Jahnvi, while calling out Dhruv Rathe.
Several other leaders took the screenshot from the thumbnail to highlight the propaganda message by Rathe. The video thumbnail was later changed from Jahnvi Kapoor’s photo to Tiger Shroff’s, but people continued to accuse him of spreading propaganda.
