Madhavi Latha, who is contesting elections for the first time, gained attention through controversial interviews in recent months.A provocative gesture by BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate in Telangana, Madhavi Latha, has triggered a massive controversy. In a now viral video, Latha can be seen mimicking the action of drawing and shooting an arrow while in proximity to a mosque during a Ram Navami rally. This action was condemned by Asaduddin Owaisi, the chief of AIMIM, as “vulgar, obscene, and provocative.”
Latha is contesting the Hyderabad seat, a constituency held by Owaisi since 2004 and his father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi since 1989.
After the row erupted, Latha apologized saying “if anyone’s feelings are hurt,” but she also suggested that the circulated video may be “incomplete.”
The BJP leader later posted on X (formerly Twitter), “It has come to my notice that a video of mine is being circulated in the media to create negativity. I would like to clarify that this is an incomplete video and if anyone’s feelings are hurt due to such a video, I would like to apologise…”
In the widely circulated 10-second clip, Latha, draped in saffron clothes, mimes the pulling an arrow from a quiver, loading it onto an imaginary bow, and then releasing it, accompanied by loud music. The clip pans to show the nearby mosque at the moment of the simulated ‘arrow’ release.
Reacting to her actions, Owaisi said, “If I would have done something like this, then suo moto action would have been taken against me. (We are) being called terrorists, insults are being hurled (at us) and Muslim women are being told to remove their hijabs.”
Latha is calling the whole incident a “conspiracy against us (the BJP)… because we work well with both Hindu and Muslim brothers” and demanded “where did the mosque come from?”
“Yesterday, on the occasion of Ram Navami, I was gesturing shooting an (imaginary) arrow towards the sky. I released that arrow towards a building, that’s it. Where did the mosque come from?”
“These people (AIMIM) always resort to hateful speeches to side-line BJP leaders here and divert people’s attention. They have become experts in inciting the youth. This is a conspiracy…”
Owaisi, a fierce critic of the BJP, asked if this is the “Viksit Bharat” that the party keeps talking about.
“The people of Hyderabad have seen the BJP’s intentions. They will not accept vulgar and provocative actions by the BJP and RSS (the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, seen as the ruling party’s ideological mentor),” he said.
“Elections have their own place. But what is more important is the peace of Telangana and Hyderabad… the brotherhood, fraternity prevailing here, which they (BJP) want to destroy. Am confident Telangana will vote against BJP, which is against peace…”
The AIMIM has urged the Election Commission to take action.
Meanwhile, the Law and Policy Research Institute filed a complaint with the Election Commission and Hyderabad Commissioner of Police for inciting violence. “This behavior is not only reprehensible but also a blatant violation of the principles enshrined in the Representation of the People Act, 1951,” the complaint read.
On April 17, Madhavi Latha joined the Shobha Yatra, an annual procession celebrating the birth of Hindu god Rama, organized by BJP MLA Raja Singh in Hyderabad’s Goshamahal constituency. In a video from the event, she was seen atop a vehicle amidst a crowd, gesturing as if firing a bow towards a mosque in Begum Bazar.
During the yatra, BJP MLA T Raja Singh made a statement challenging Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, asserting their intention to reclaim Hindu religious sites like Kashi, Mathura, and over 40,000 temples currently designated as Muslim religious sites.
Madhavi Latha, who is contesting elections for the first time, gained attention through controversial interviews in recent months. In these interviews, she made anti-Muslim remarks, including unsubstantiated claims about ‘love jihad’ in the Old City, a term coined by right-wing groups alleging Muslim men luring Hindu women into marriage for conversion. She also claimed that ‘love marriage’ doesn’t exist in Islam and that non-Muslim women marrying Muslim men would be considered ‘slaves’. She also campaigned against triple talaq in the Old City and demanded renaming Hyderabad to Bhagyanagar.