Senior citizen from Kerala and PM Narendra Modi's doppelganger MP Ramchandran says AIB has no right to make money off humiliating a national leader, and causing harassment to a commoner
Modi (left) and lookalike Ramchandran (centre). Pic/ Getty images; imaging/ Ravi Jadhav
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In his town of Payyanur in Kerala, MP Ramchandran has been a celebrity since May 2014 when Narendra Modi took over as India's 14th prime minister. It's because the two look like long-lost twins. But, it was last week that the 64-year-old shot to national fame when Mumbai-based comedy collective, All India Bakchod (AIB), used his photo next to Modi's with the Snapchat dog filter. Of the post that went viral, bringing him unwanted negative attention, he says, "Why would someone do this to me?"
Ramachandran is no different from other Modi supporters, including those who filed a criminal defamation and obscenity case against AIB for what they claimed amounted to humiliating the prime minister.
Tired of the attention the resemblance gets him, M P Ramchandran had declared he would shave off his beard, until he was convinced by friends and family not to
Tired of the attention the resemblance gets him, Ramachandran had declared he would shave off his beard, until he was convinced by friends and family not to. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an international figure, and my role model too. It's not right to make fun of someone who is doing what he is for the country," he told mid-day. "Nobody has the right to morph photographs to make fun for monetary gain. I am neither a politician, nor a social activist. I am a common man with no enemies."
Also Read: AIB gets into trouble after tweeting a photo of Narendra Modi with the dog filter
Ramchandran, who stays in Kerala with his mother and often travels to Bangalore where his wife is based [he was waiting to take the train home which is when the picture was clicked] added that he was surprised to lean of the FIR registered against AIB by the Mumbai Cyber Crime Cell.
Of the reaction he tends to get, Ramchandran says, "They travel kilometres just to take selfies with me. I am proud to have a face like that of the Prime Minister." But things got out of hand last week.
AIB's post that kicked up a storm
According to Ramchandran, on July 10 at 5 pm, he was waiting at Payyanur station to take the train to Bangalore, when a commuter took a photo of him. This is not uncommon. Passersby often request a selfie with him when they realise his resemblance to Modi. When he reached Bengaluru the next morning, he was shocked to see the reactions online to his picture that sar beside Modi's morphed photo.
Also Read: FIR against AIB for tweeting Narendra Modi photo with the dog filter
Realising that his identity had been used to defame the PM, the Modi fan decided to shave off his beard.
Ramchandran worked as a stenographer for nearly 30 years with a Mumbai-based private firm following which he moved to Saudi Arabia, where he was in a private job for 10 years.
A year before retiring, he shifted to Kuwait, and finally returned to his hometown in Kerala in 2013.
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