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Bittu Tabahi responds to Dhruv Rathee’s remark on Madhya Pradesh CM meeting: ‘Credit lene ki baat nahi hai’
Bittu Tabahi reacted after Dhruv Rathee called his meeting with MP CM Mohan Yadav a “PR” exercise.
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Surendra Singh Choudhary, better known online as Bittu Tabahi, has responded to YouTuber Dhruv Rathee after the latter criticised his meeting with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and accused the government of seeking credit for the young man’s river-cleaning efforts.
(Also read: Bittu Tabahi, who single-handedly cleaned trash-filled river, gets job offer from Dutch CEO: ‘Come work for us’)
The 21-year-old from Madhya Pradesh met Yadav at his residence in Bhopal on Saturday, where the chief minister praised his determination and efforts to clean the trash-filled Ajnar River in Biaora. A video of their interaction was later shared on the Madhya Pradesh CM’s Instagram account.
Dhruv Rathee reacts to MP CM video
Reacting to the video in the comments section, Rathee wrote, “Aa gaye credit lene.. Sara kaam ek ladke ne kiya aur jab viral hua toh use bula liya photoshoot ke liye aur besharmi toh dekho, usse kya bulwa rahe ho? ‘Sarkar toh kar hi rahi hai’ Kya kar rahi hai sarkar? Kuch nahi, sirf PR kar rahi.”
His comment roughly translates to: “They have come to take credit. One boy did all the work, and when he went viral, they called him for a photoshoot. And look at the audacity, what are they making him say? ‘The government is already doing its work.’ What is the government doing? Nothing, just PR.”
Take a look here at his comment:
Choudhary responded directly to Rathee, saying the meeting was not about the government taking credit for his work.
“Dhruv Bhaiya credit lene ki baat nahi hai, Govt. ne pehle bhi mere kaam ko appreciate kia hai, Baat yaha civic sense ki hai; main bas ye chahta hu log bhi apni jimmedari samjhe, or meri tarah swachta ke lie aage aye,” he wrote.
(Also read: Bittu Tabahi says people are littering less after he went viral: ‘Thoda antar aaya hai')
The comment translates to: “Dhruv Bhaiya, this is not about taking credit. The government has appreciated my work earlier as well. The issue here is civic sense. I only want people to understand their responsibility and come forward for cleanliness, just as I did.”
Check out his reply here:
Mohan Yadav praises Bittu Tabahi
During their meeting, Yadav praised Choudhary for showing how individual action can bring meaningful change. In a post accompanying the video, the chief minister said Bittu had not only cleaned the Ajnar River but also shown society that change does not always require a crowd and can begin with one sincere initiative.
He also linked Choudhary’s work with the state government’s ‘Jal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyan’, which focuses on conserving and rejuvenating water sources through public participation.
Watch the clip here:
Job offer from The Ocean Cleanup CEO
Choudhary’s work has also attracted international attention. Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of Netherlands-based non-profit The Ocean Cleanup, offered him a job after seeing a post about his efforts.
An X user had shared before-and-after pictures of the river and wrote, “A 21-year-old Indian man, Surendra Singh Choudhry, known as ‘Bittu Tabahi,’ has been cleaning the heavily polluted Ajnar River himself for months.”
(Also read: Kevin Pietersen praises Bittu Tabahi for cleaning polluted MP river: ‘Heroic, deserves international recognition’)
Reacting to the post, Slat simply wrote, “Come work for us.”
