[Watch] PM’s Doppelganger Clarifies Viral Garba Video Was Not Deepfake, ‘It Was Him’

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was alarmed on seeing a video of him playing garba with a group of women. He realised that he was a victim of deepfake and became vocal about its perils. The outcome is an announcement by the government today, on regulations with strict punishment for those found circulating such videos.

However, after so many weeks, it has emerged that the PM’s video was not a deepfake. The man who actually featured in the video has issued a clarification, saying that it was not deepfake but him dancing with the women.

Taking to Instagram, businessman Vikas Mahante, who is PM Modi’s doppelgänger, clarified that it was not deepfake.

“Shedding the light on the recent issue of deepfake raised by our Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi ji, I would like to address you all that the person in the viral video is me, Mr Vikas Mahante,” he said on the social networking site.

Mahante further said that in “no way” can he “claim to be or impersonate” the Prime Minister.

“As an artist and an actor, I am invited to many such events for being a prominent lookalike of our PM. I would like to clarify that in no way, I claim to be or impersonate Modi ji and do no such thing that would tarnish his image as the Prime Minister of India. It is my honour to share his ideologies amongst people who love and respect him and I hope to continue to do that in the future as well. I hope to continue to do that in the future as well,” the businessman wrote on Instagram.

Addressing journalists at BJP’s Diwali Milan programme at the party’s headquarters in Delhi on Friday (November 17), PM Modi said that deepfakes are one of the biggest threats that the Indian system is facing currently, adding that these can cause chaos in society. The Prime Minister also urged the media to educate people about the increasing problem.

He also said that both media and citizens must be vigilant when it comes to the misuse of artificial intelligence for deepfakes.

Referring to the viral video of him, PM Modi called it “very real” and added that he has not played garba since he was young.