BJP candidate in Hyderabad questions the origins of the mosque after an alleged fictional arrow was directed

Madhavi Latha, the BJP’s candidate for Lok Sabha from Hyderabad, has been into hot water after making a gesture at an election rally on Wednesday during a Ram Navami event in which she pretended to draw and shoot an arrow close to a mosque.

Latha, wearing saffron and a garland of yellow flowers around her neck, makes a big flourish in a now-viral video. Loud music starts to play as she draws a fictitious arrow from a quiver on her back, notches the arrow, and pulls the fake weapon. When she fires the “arrow,” the web video pans to the mosque.

Asaduddin Owaisi, the head of AIMIM, denounced the move, calling it “vulgar, obscene, and provocative.” He said that the RSS and the BJP wanted to “disturb the peace of the city.”

“Youth in Hyderabad, please pay attention to what the BJP and RSS are doing to the peace in Hyderabad and use your vote properly. BJP and RSS members have shown aggressive activities. The BJP and RSS want to sabotage the city’s tranquility. You want to pamper the Hyderabadi populace. People have seen what they did. Is this “Sabka saath, Sabka Vikas” under Narendra Modi? stated Owaisi.

Madhavi Latha is running against Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, the father of Owaisi, who has been the representative of Hyderabad since 1989, and Owaisi himself since 2004.

She apologized “if anyone’s feelings are hurt” in a message she put on X on Thursday night after receiving backlash over the video. She did, however, also assert that the widely shared video is “incomplete.”

“It has come to my notice that a video of mine is being circulated in the media to create negativity,” the BJP leader wrote on X. It is important for me to make clear that this is an unfinished film, and I sincerely apologize if this has offended anybody.

On the occasion of Ram Navami yesterday, I made a gesture like I was launching an imagined arrow into the sky. That’s all—I let go of the arrow and it went toward a skyscraper. She asked PTI, “Where did the mosque come from?”

“These individuals (AIMIM) constantly use hate rhetoric to draw attention away from BJP leaders here and to marginalize them. They are now specialists at stirring up young people. There is a conspiracy here, she said.

Telangana’s 17 Lok Sabha seats are up for election on May 17, 2024. On June 4, the results will be announced.