Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in 2024, BJP’s Hyderabad candidate Madhavi Latha is facing severe hatred from the supporters of the opponent AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi in Hyderabad. The supporters of AIMIM are criticizing the BJP leader and also doubting her femininity comparing her to the persons from the transgender community.
Several videos of such hate campaigns are making rounds on social media in which the AIMIM leaders or Muslim leaders can be heard saying that they have doubts about whether Latha is a man or a woman. The leaders are also heard saying that the BJP did not find a man or woman to elect elections against Owaisi in Hyderabad.
“BJP’s Hyderabad Lok Sabha candidate Madhavi Latha is facing one of the vilest hate campaigns from Owaisi’s followers. Owaisi fans are spreading edited videos and running targeted campaigns against her,” posted one of the X users Treeni.
BJP's Hyderabad Lok Sabha candidate Madhavi Latha is facing one of the most vilest hate campaigns from Owaisi's followers.
— Treeni (@TheTreeni) April 25, 2024
Owaisi fans are spreading edited videos and running targeted campaigns against her.
Examples👇pic.twitter.com/NyjVjNs0fd
Some of the videos showed the AIMIM supporters making fun of Latha by comparing her to a comedy character ‘Gutthi’ from the famous comedy show ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’. The character of a woman in the show was played by actor Sunil Grover who now appears in a similar character on Netflix in the ‘Kapil Sharma Show’. The opponent supporters by comparing Latha to ‘Gutthi’ claimed that the BJP leader looked like a transgender.
Further in one of the videos, the users indicated that Latha begged for votes in the city just like people beg for money on the streets.
One of the Muslim leaders also openly threatened Latha and said that she would be taught a lesson. The Muslim leader’s video was posted by Advocate Neelam Bhargava. The man in the video could be openly heard saying that he had doubts about whether Latha was a man or a woman. By saying this the Muslim supporters of Owaisi made an attempt to insult Latha as a woman.
While Muslim women showing their love and support to @Kompella_MLatha ji,
— Advocate Neelam Bhargava Ram (Modi Ka Parivar) (@nbramllb) April 21, 2024
After @ECISVEEP deleting 5,40,0000 bogus votes @asadowaisi party workers threatening to Postmortem her & indirectly threatening to physically abuse her…#MadhaviLatha@AmitShah @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/3KrqIMhVch
On 25th April, Latha who has a degree in political science declared her family assets worth Rs 221 crore in the election affidavit. It is important to note that Latha is contesting against AIMIM’s Asadudding Owaisi who has a degree in Law and has 5 criminal cases booked against him. Meanwhile, Latha has no criminal cases registered against her.
Notably, the Hyderabad Police recently booked Latha for allegedly making ‘objectionable’ gestures at a Masjid. A video of the BJP candidate from Ram Navami rally on 17th April went viral over the internet in which Latha could be seen showcasing the Rambaan gesture by hand. The case was based on a complaint filed by one resident Shaik Imran who claimed that Latha made that gesture pointing towards a Masjid.
Madhavi Latha is fire 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tJgVtjyHL7
— Viक़as (@VlKAS_PR0NAM0) April 23, 2024
Madhavi Latha is the Best ❤️
— Kashmiri Hindu (@BattaKashmiri) April 18, 2024
Jai Shri Ram 🔥 pic.twitter.com/s57O4sjbfI
Later Latha clarified the incident and said that she was showing the Ramban gesture towards the sky and not the Masjid. “On the occasion of Ram Navami, I was gesturing shooting an (imaginary) arrow towards the sky. I released that arrow toward a building, that’s it. Where did the mosque come from? These people (referring to AIMIM) have always resorted to such hateful speeches to sideline the BJP leaders here and divert people’s attention. They have become experts in inciting the youth. This is a conspiracy against us because we work well with both Hindu and Muslim brothers,” she said.
It is clearly seen in the video that Latha pointed the arrow toward the sky and not in any direction pointing to the Mosque. It is the video shared by Islamists that portrays Latha falsely pointing the gesture at the Masjid.
Hyderabad will go to the polls in the fourth phase on May 13. Latha filed her nomination papers on Wednesday, following a city-wide roadshow. Owaisi had filed on April 19. Along with Latha and Owaisi, the Congress nominated Mohammed Waliullah Sameer from Hyderabad, while the BRS fielded G Srinivas Yadav.
