By Hazel Gandhi
A video of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Madhavi Latha saying that Indian Muslims cannot be terrorists is viral online with the false claim that she changed her views about the community that she had previously insulted, following her defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
BOOM found that the claims are false, Latha made the statement while campaigning for the elections and not after losing them.
Madhavi Latha contested the Lok Sabha elections from Hyderabad against AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, losing out to him by a large margin of 3,38,087 votes. Latha has drawn criticism for her anti-Muslim campaigns and statements, including an incident where she demanded female Muslim voters to lift their burqas and prove their identity at a polling station in Hyderabad.
The viral video is being shared to claim that Latha changed her anti-Muslim rhetoric after being defeated in the elections by saying that "Indian Muslims cannot be terrorists". A caption on Facebook reads, "She gained wisdom after losing the election"
(Original text in Hindi: "चुनाव हारते ही जिज्जी को अकल आ गई")
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video is also being shared on X with a similar caption.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from April 2024 when Latha was still campaigning for the elections and had not been defeated yet.
We ran a keyword search of Latha's statement in Hindi (भारत के मुसलमान कभी आतंकवादी नहीं हो सकते: माधवी लता) and found several posts on X and Instagram from May 2024 that shared the same viral video.
Click here and here for archives.
We ran a search for the original interview on Google and found the earliest version shared by a YouTube channel called Hyderabad Festivals on April 22, 2024. This video was an exact match to the viral clip and was titled 'Hyderabad BJP Madhavi Latha interview'
Click here for an archive.
A full version of this interview was also shared by the same channel on April 22, 2024 where Latha discussed other issues like CAA and Triple Talaq. The portion of the viral video starts from the 1:21 mark where the interviewer asks Madhvi Latha if Muslims are terrorists. While saying that it is not possible for Indian Muslims to be terrorists, Latha adds "But children who are affected by poverty, who are provoked in the name of religion, in which direction will their minds go? What can I say? A person stricken by poverty can do anything."
Hyderabad voted in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13, weeks after Latha made this statement.
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