The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi, her heavyweight rival for the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, slammed the “vulgar, obscene, and provocative” action. The polling in the constituency is due on 13 May.
Latha maintains that it was doctored — she wasn’t aiming at a mosque, even though the viral clip makes it look as such.
“I wasn’t aiming at the masjid! It’s a fake video that’s being circulated!” she says, showing her version of the video on her phone.
Sultan, a resident of Hyderabad’s Malakpet, continues his line of questioning. “If you get elected, will Muslims in Hyderabad benefit?” he asks. “Your party’s ideology is for a Hindu rashtra (nation), that’s what people say. Don’t feel bad, I’m just asking a question.”
But Latha looks thrilled. “I want you to ask these questions!” she says, before answering each one of them. The entire interaction lasts three minutes. Sultan thanks Latha, and she continues on her way.
“I was going home and saw her walking by, so I wanted to ask her my questions — and find out how she feels about Muslims,” says Sultan afterwards. He’d seen the viral video Thursday and was disturbed by it.
“When I asked her, a parliamentary candidate, if the country’s Muslims should be afraid, she categorically said no. And she’s like, a good orator and public speaker. But I can’t yet tell if she’s from the BJP’s naram dal (soft faction) or garam dal (radical faction). Let’s see. But the point is, she stopped and answered my questions to my face. That’s a good thing, especially for me as a voter,” Sultan tells ThePrint.
Like Sultan, many onlookers in Malakpet agree that Latha’s sudden visibility is rare and exciting. Most don’t know who she is, remember her name, or even know which political party she’s from — but they definitely notice her.
Her focus, Latha says, is on developing the area, empowering women, and freeing the area of alleged violence. She’s not shy about answering questions on the BJP’s stance towards Muslims — she doesn’t wait for questions like law student Sultan’s to proclaim that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)-National Register of Citizens (NRC) is not for Indian Muslims, but “outsiders” like the Rohingyas.
Or that Indian Muslims are not “terrorists”, but some Pakistanis are. She can’t speak for educated Muslims, but she wants to be a voice for downtrodden Pasmanda Muslims and make sure they get “justice”.
“I don’t know who she is, never seen her before,” says 57-year-old Khairunnisa, who can’t stop grinning while clutching the flyer Latha has pressed into her hands.
Khairunnisa had just got into an autorickshaw to go to her daughter’s house when Latha’s group was passing her by — Latha suddenly stuck her head into the auto and exchanged a few words with Khairunnisa, telling her to vote for her instead of Owaisi because as a woman, she’ll protect her interests. “But she seems very nice even though she seems important!”
Also Read: Triple talaq law, door-to-door & Madhavi Latha — how BJP is trying break Owaisi spell on Hyderabad
Determined to be seen
Latha has been going on a door-to-door campaign in Hyderabad’s Old City to meet voters personally. Friday, the day Owaisi filed his nomination papers, Latha was in the heart of his stronghold.
Her brisk padayatra looks like a larger group than it actually is because of her Z-security status. Besides bodyguards, 24 local police personnel accompany her through Malakpet’s empty lanes, as most residents have retreated indoors to beat the heat.
“I don’t [feel] a threat from the people here, whether they are Hindus or Muslims,” Latha tells ThePrint as she takes a break at a voter’s house, wiping sweat off her brow. But she says she still feels the need for security in Hyderabad’s old city.
Latha says she is campaigning for Hindus and Pasmanda Muslims to be free from the MIM’s “tyranny,” and deliver them “justice.” She claims that residents in Old City are intimidated and threatened by Owaisi’s AIMIM, and she’s determined to bring them actual change and development.
Razia, who was walking to a store, was suddenly swept up by Latha’s group for a few seconds. She looks disoriented, left holding Latha’s flyer, having briefly met the potential parliamentarian. “I’ve been seeing her a lot lately in WhatsApp videos and on television. I didn’t know who she was before,” she says, shrugging. “She seems interested in improving the area, which is new.”
The heightened visibility is an important cornerstone of Latha’s campaign, especially in an area she claims has been deliberately neglected. One of her aides asks a shopkeeper when was the last time he remembers Owaisi visiting the area — and is satisfied to note that Ahmed, the shopkeeper, only remembers being visited by AIMIM party workers. An AIMIM poster is on the wall outside his shop, which he says someone put up recently overnight.
Political analysts say Hyderabad has never seen a candidate like Latha before, and her media savviness is what has propelled her to national attention — as well as make Hyderabad seem like a closer fight than it actually is.
The seat has been an Owaisi stronghold for four decades — Asaduddin Owaisi has been MP for 20 years, before which his father, the late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, held it for another 20 years.
Latha doesn’t think it’s a challenge to aim for the Muslim vote in Hyderabad, even though she is a relative newcomer on the political scene. The chairperson of Hyderabad-based Virinchi Hospitals, Latha claims she has been working as an activist in Old City to “empower Muslim women.”
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat includes seven legislative segments, all located in the older part of the city — and 59 percent of the population is Muslim. The BJP’s Raja Singh holds the only non-AIMIM legislative seat within the larger Hyderabad constituency — six out of seven are with AIMIM. Latha wants to focus on the Hindu and Pasmanda Muslim vote especially.
She dismisses the fact that Hyderabad has seen relative communal harmony for decades. “Owaisi sits in a palace and provokes the aam junta (common man) to fight among themselves. No one has the courage to bring out the truth of what’s been happening in Hyderabad. But I will,” says Latha emphatically.
Galvanising the BJP
Latha begins to round up the day’s padayatra at a Valmiki colony in Old City. Before her last stop at a Shiva temple under construction, she stops for a quick press conference at a local BJP party worker’s house.
The press gather outside, while she sits indoors and carefully goes through the BJP’s manifesto in Telugu. She takes handwritten notes, occasionally asking an aide to help her translate a long Telugu word.
When a reporter enters and asks her to give them a byte — they have to head to cover Owaisi’s nomination — she smiles indulgently and continues taking notes. Then she quickly chugs a glass of buttermilk before heading outside to hold her press conference.
She’s the centre of the action, sitting between local BJP leaders — the Moosarambagh corporator on her left and local BJP spokesperson on the right— both completely silent.
She talks about the party’s manifesto before doing what she’s really good at, taking questions. Her voice quivers with emotion on command, eyes brimming with tears when talking about injustice.
The main question of the day is how Latha feels about 5.41 lakh voters being removed from the electoral rolls — she doesn’t trust the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), she says, but will wait and see whether it is “bogus votes” that have been deleted from the rolls or “Hindu votes.”
Inside the party worker’s house, while Latha is holding forth outside, talk turns to how she’s been the much-needed energy for the local BJP cadre. “She’s the only candidate to counter the MIM, the only chance Hyderabad has,” says one party volunteer.
“There is finally someone willing to raise their voice in both Dakhni and Telugu in Hyderabad!” says someone else.
Also Read: Hindutva face, Bharatanatyam dancer — who is Madhavi Latha, BJP pick to take on Owaisi in Hyderabad
Voters still unconvinced
Dressed in a white cotton sari, purple blouse, and purple running shoes — all topped off with a saffron sash and wrists full of prayer beads — Latha moves through Malakpet’s lanes with ease. She seems most popular with women and children, interacting with as many as possible.
Many children join her as the morning progresses. By the end of the afternoon, a group of five Hindu boys have been coached into chanting “Jabse aayi Madhavi Latha, tabse Owaisi laapataa! (Ever since Madhavi Latha arrived, Owaisi has been missing).”
Most people seem interested that a candidate is actually campaigning in their area, even if they don’t know what she stands for.
The law student, Sultan, thinks this could have an impact on Pasmanda Muslims, but doesn’t think liberal Muslims like himself will vote for the BJP because of its Hindutva agenda. Sultan himself thinks Owaisi is like “the Muslim RSS”, but doesn’t think the BJP is a viable counter-option.
She has more success among the old city’s Dalits, where many Valmiki voters are already familiar with the BJP’s agenda. And even if her politics isn’t making a splash, her confident appearance is.
“Just now, that lady — what was her name again?” asks Nandakumari, who lives in a Valmiki slum in the Old City and is an AIMIM supporter. “Ah yes, Madhavi Latha. I saw her on YouTube. Her way of talking, her support for women, visiting every galli here to say this, all of it is good to watch. It’s good for women’s power!”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also Read: UP to Kashmir — PM Modi is addressing Pasmanda Muslims the way we’ve never seen before