Fact Check: Viral message on Eid is by fake Dhruv Rathee account, not official account

A Thread user shared the poster which reads, “Dhruv Rathee said: 200 million Muslims celebrated Eid yesterday, distributed meat to the poor and needy, met their relatives, had some amazing food, gave Eidi to children and made them happy. None of them got drunk and went to others’ places of worship to dance and provoke. What an amazing community #EidMubarak #DhruvRathee” (translated from Malayalam). The poster also had Dhruv Rathee’s image on it. (Archive)

A similar post can be seen here. (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The public statement was not made by Dhruv Rathee.

A keyword search traced the content to a post by an X premium account named Dhruv Rathee (Parody), posted on June 18, 2024. The content on the poster was made using the tweet from the account.

The account’s bio stated: “This is the fan and parody account and not affiliated with the original account of Dhruv Rathee. Not impersonating anyone. This account is Parody.” The account was created in October 2014 and has 43.4K followers.

While the parody account also uses the same cover images as the original Dhruv Rathee account while also tweeting political content, going by the bio it is clear that it is not the original account.

Additionally, we also reviewed the posts from Dhruv Rathee’s official account, which has 2.6 million followers. No such post was shared by the official account. Dhruv Rathee’s latest post, dated June 18, was, “Railway Minister can’t stop rail accidents and overcrowding in trains, Education Minister can’t stop paper leaks and exam scams, Home Minister can’t stop terrorist attacks and Manipur violence.”

Hence, we conclude that the message attributed to Dhruv Rathee regarding Eid celebrations is from a parody account, not the official account. The claim is false.