Social media influencer & YouTuber Dhruv Rathee on Sunday reacted to SGPC's objection over one of his videos. Dhruv Rathee on Sunday uploaded an almost half an hour long video with the title 'The Sikh Warrior Who Terrified the Mughals | Legend of Banda Singh Bahadur'. In the video, Rathee showcased the Sikh Gurus with the help of AI and animation. As a result, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) objected to the new video of the YouTuber. In this video, he played animations of Sikh Gurus, martyred warriors, and their family members using Artificial Intelligence (AI). He also described Shri Banda Singh Bahadur as Robin Hood.
SGPC General Secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said that Sikhs do not need Dhruv Rathee's AI-based video to know their history. Dhruv Rathee has distorted many important historical facts related to the martyrdom of Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. He said that the names of Guru Sahiban were not mentioned with due respect, which is extremely objectionable. He has appealed to the government to take appropriate action against Dhruv Rathee.
Dhruv Rathee reacts to SGPC's objection
After SGPC's objection, Rathee took to his Instagram story and uploaded his video addressing the controversy. Rathee in his story said that people from the Sikh community say that it is wrong to show Sikh Gurus in animation in the video. People can give me their opinion on social media. After this, I will delete the video or take some other action.
"A lot of hard work has gone into making the animation video. Because of AI, it was possible to show the story through animation. Many people also liked this video, but some people from the Sikh community believe that it is wrong to show the Sikh Gurus through animation. It is not right to show Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji like this."
Dhruv put up a poll on social media and asked the Sikh community, "If this is against their principles, should I delete this video? If yes, you can tell me by participating in the poll. If not, I can leave the video as it is, or I can blur some parts. It is not possible to make a video on the story of any Sikh Guru without a photo."
"I will take action after knowing the opinion," said Dhruv Rathee, adding, "This is a history video, in which Guru Gobind Singh Ji is the main character. If I am not able to show his face, then the whole video will be just a speech. People can give their opinion in the poll. I will take action on it after knowing everyone's opinion."
What does Dhruv Rathee's video say?
Dhruv Rathee uploaded a 24-minute 37-second video on his YouTube channel on Sunday. In the video, Dhruv talked about the martyrdom of the Gurus of Sikhism and the atrocities of the Mughals and the wars fought with them. He told how Guru Teg Bahadur Ji was martyred. How Guru Gobind Singh formed the Khalsa Panth and chose Panch Pyare and how his children were martyred. He also gave information about the Sikh warrior Banda Singh Bahadur in the video.
SGPC says that this is against Sikh principles. Secondly, Sikh warrior Banda Singh Bahadur was also described as Robin Hood. In the video, Dhruv Rathee says that Banda Singh Bahadur used to rob rich kings and landlords and give the money to poor farmers. Rathee has also shared links to provide evidence of the facts in his video, but SGPC believes that this has hurt the faith of the people of Sikh religion.