Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have been at the center of a meme storm involving spoof videos.
PM Modi shared a video on his X account where AI technology was used to swap his face onto a video of American rapper Lil Yachty dancing on stage. The original clip, a popular choice for memes, was manipulated to make it appear as if the PM himself was performing the dance.
The Prime Minister's post has been seen as a reaction to a similar spoof featuring West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, which led to a sharper response from local authorities. After the video of the CM dancing was shared by two X users, they received legal notices from the Cyber Crime division of Kolkata Police, demanding their personal details under the threat of legal action.
Despite this, the notice was subsequently removed, but the incident sparked a wave of criticism towards the police's actions, perceived as overly protective of the Chief Minister. BJP's IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, chimed in with a critique, suggesting that Kolkata Police should focus on more serious issues rather than policing memes. Kangana Ranaut, BJP's candidate from Mandi, also commented, advising Banerjee to lighten up and criticising her reaction as overly strict.
Ranaut said, "Mamta didi ji this is called taking a chill pill, aap bhi kabhi le liya karo, hamesha gusse mein rehti ho, bachchon ne aapka dancing meme kya bana diya, aap toh unko jail mein daalne liga (You also take a chill pill, you are always angry. Some kids made your dancing video and you are trying to put them in jail). How uncool of you !! Sorry to say but you are too uptight, rigid and uncool."
The memes have also sparked a debate on freedom of expression and the role of law enforcement in managing online content.