Exclusive/ Deepfakes Can Be Detrimental to a Democracy, Ashwini Vaishnaw Tells Arnab | Exclusive

New Delhi: Deepfakes can be really detrimental to a democracy, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted on Tuesday while speaking in an exclusive conversation with Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami as the duo talked about the perils of deep fakes, especially in the backdrop of a parliamentary election as huge as that of India.

Responding to a question on Home Minister Amit Shah's edited video that has been doing rounds on social media, Vaishnaw said, “It was a fake video which was supposed to create confusion among people".

In the altered video, Shah was purportedly seen announcing the curtailment of reservation rights of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The original video, however, has “completely different wordings and connotations”, according to a complaint filed by a Mumbai BJP functionary in this regard.

“This is something which appears to have been done intentionally”, Vaishnaw told Republic as he made a country-wide appeal to all the parties that are in the election process to follow the rules of democracy. “We should play the game by the rules”, he said.

Several Congress functionaries, including the Maharashtra Youth Congress' social media handle, had shared the tampered-with video of Shah, which the saffron party claims was created and “widely propagated” on the internet with a "malafide intent to defame" the Union minister.

"It shows the culture of the Congress Party; they don't care about democracy… they have not only violated the law of the land, but have also violated the democratic conduct, Vaishnaw lamented.

In his original speech from last year's poll campaign in Telangana, Shah can be heard saying, if the BJP comes to power, it will scrap the “unconstitutional” reservation as it was the right of the SCs, STs and OBCs in the state.

“Under the existing legal framework, any person who amplifies it is as much liable as the person who creates it”, the IT minister told Republic, while responding to a question on the fabricated video being widely posted from and recklessly shared by the official ‘X’ handles of several opposition parties and leaders.

Further during the conversation, Vaishnaw reiterated the BJP's stance on the matter, saying, “our party's stand is very clear: we have always respected the Constitution…We have always maintained the constitutional provisions about reservation”.

Earlier during the day, BJP National President JP Nadda lambasted the INDI alliance for playing “divisive politics”, saying, the Opposition leaders are in “deep depression” as they are witnessing the “BJP crossing the 400+ mark” in the ongoing general elections.

Asserting that the morphed video was “uploaded from Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's phone”, Nadda further stressed the INDI alliance “tried to make it viral”, even as he questioned: “What kind of politics are they playing?”

The Delhi Police has summoned Reddy on May 1 for questioning in connection with the case. Notices have also been issued to four other members of the Telangana Congress in this regard. They have been asked to appear with their mobile phones, laptops, tablets or any other electronic device through which they (may) have created, uploaded and(or) tweeted the video on their ‘X’ accounts.

“How can a sitting CM and a national political party circulate a Deepfake video?” Nadda had quipped.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that one person has been arrested in connection with the fake video. “Assam police have arrested an individual named Sri Reetom  Singh in connection with the fake video involving Honorable Home Minister Amit Shah”, he wrote Monday in a post on ‘X’.

Deepfake videos are the ones which have been altered, in a convincing way, to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said. 

Ashwini Vaishnaw Speaks To Arnab Goswami | Deepfake Menace | Watch the FULL Exclusive here: