[Interview] BJP Hyderabad Candidate Madhavi Latha On 'Love Jihad', Bogus Votes, And What Ails The Old City

Swarajya recently met Kompella Madhavi Latha, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate from Hyderabad.

She is up against Asaddudin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Sameer Waliullah of the Congress and Gaddam Srinivas Yadav of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS).

The following are edited excerpts of the conversation with Latha.

Please tell us how you are feeling about the campaign. What has the response been like?

I have been enjoying it from day one because I am not worried about the consequences. I am somebody who believes in doing justice to the role given to me. I am doing the maximum that can be done to the extent I understand and in that process who matters for me are those who are weak and voiceless like the poor, the women, the Dalits, Scheduled Tribes etc.

I am basically trying to penetrate into those sectors and sections that are voiceless and give them the necessary representation.

How confident are you of a victory from here?

We are very much confident.

You grew up in the Old City. What are some of the problems that you saw then and are still continuing?

Bad roads, overflowing drains, no on time water facility, mixing of sewage and drinking water, no proper bus shelters are some of the problems I saw while growing up. 

Surprisingly after 25 years, the same problems—naala (drainage), light, and roads still continue to linger. What kind of development is this? 

Even today in Darus Salam (where the AIMIM headquarters is located), people feel great that they have an office, where they sit in a very disciplined manner to take complaints. 

And if you ask what complaints, the answer is naala complaints,light complaints, road complaints and water complaints. It's the same story in the 21st century and they feel great about it.

How big is the bogus votes issue? And how many votes do you think are bogus?

The bogus votes issue is really big because in the 1992 elections itself it was very straightforward and clear that 110 per cent votes were cast in one of our assembly constituencies for Asaduddin’s father. Is it not a clear proof? 

Now in the present day too we have shown that there are several cases of double entries turning up when you type an EPIC number. We can even give you a screen shot of that also. 

It is a big issue. It exists even today. But what is very important is, if they say that they will not or they cannot delete any further votes (this answer was given to me by the State Election Commissioner Mr Vikas Raj and not by the Election Commission of India), security must be tightened to ensure that these bogus votes are not cast. 

If you are not doing either, then it means you deliberately want to show people and representatives like us that you don't want to do justice with us. I am fighting for that justice. 

Do you have any estimate of how many bogus votes might be there?

Still I would say around 3.5-4 lakhs should be there out of the total.

You have said that Hindus still face difficulties in living without fear in the Old City. What do you think is the reason? What are the things that people are afraid of?

For example, I’ll tell you about a recent incident. There is a very old Hanumanji temple. It looks like a cave. They don't let it open. They don't let anybody come and do pooja there.

One Hindu boy went there and cleaned up everything. He cleaned all the dirt and trash and then burnt the trash. This is a very common practice in India. They went and did the pooja. 

Not every Muslim, but there will be some locals there chosen by the AIMIM. They come, create an issue and put false allegations on them. They even filed an FIR against them.

Coming to the FIR against me for firing an imaginary arrow. The arrow was in the direction of the sky but they contend that it was towards a masjid.

A common man being provoked is not the problem here. Because a common man could be illiterate, a common man can be very emotional, a common man can be easily diverted towards hate speeches. What is the police doing?

Why did the police book an FIR without understanding the ground reality? The police should have seen the right and wrong side of the video. This is how the police are with the AIMIM, the Congress party and local parties. They have no interest to bring justice here. So somebody should have interest to bring justice.

There have been a number of allegations of 'love jihad' in Hyderabad and Telangana at large. What do you think is the solution? Are you in favour of a special law to curb this?

See, I would say one thing. No girl should be trapped. Trapping a girl in various means is illegal. Even trapping a girl on false statements of love is not accepted.

There is a context to this. You will be surprised that areas in constituencies like Chandrayangutta, Yakutpura and Bahadurpura have been blacklisted by banks. They don't get credit cards here. They don't get loans here. They don't get any kind of bank sanctions here to the extent that even in a Pradhan Mantri Yojana there was great difficulty penetrating. It came all the way till banks and banks said we don't have a good report on these constituencies so we can't give you. The reason for this is that recovery is a big problem.

No Ola cabs come into Old City for example. You try to book right now and say you have to go to some Bahadurpura, they will not come.

This is the state here. Over and above you see the Rapido bikes. Why does it appear like the Rapido bikes are given only to Muslim drivers? Is it a deliberate trap? Why isn't Rapido given to women?

Then women will carry other women. It is a matter of safety. Why only to men? Why only to Muslims? That too chosen? This is how it is. Why don’t you give 50 per cent to women in that? Sanction this for women. Women will choose women to go.

And you will be surprised. You book a Rapido with a male voice, the Rapido will not come. You book a Rapido with a female voice, the Rapido comes. The 'love jihad' problem starts from such cases also. It's a clear trap. 

And many unemployed, uneducated youth, they'll be clustered at a point and they'll be given money. Say money is given, he doesn't care what he is doing. None of them are interested in marrying any girl. 

It is being made out to be a religious problem but actually is due to self-interested, selfish motto of some people behind this.

There are Hindus who have married Muslims, after knowing them over a period of time, and developing a liking towards their personalities. That's different. 

This is a properly targeted scam done by a few people who are selfish, who never want two religions to live together in this country. So the more they inject and induct hatred into the system, the more their personal vested interest will always flourish.

So are you in favour of a specific law to tackle this?

What happens is, as and when I start bringing out every such incident in which an X girl is trapped by a Y boy, it starts working in a different direction. 

There is also a second issue here. There is no safety in the lanes and by-lanes of the Old City. There is no light.

The lanes are too small. Police don't work with these people. In Rapidos, only men come. Olas do not come inside. Once you start clearing all these things, it becomes an open city. And nobody can do anything in an open city. And you employ all the unemployed youth, you put them to jobs. 

Buses don't come inside here. Let the buses come inside. So you have to kill and curb the reasons that are leading to this. 

Every time you go to a law. How many things can law handle? You need to understand the root cause for what is happening so that these selfish fellows are weeded out from the system. That's how I think.

What's the reason for low voter turnout in Hyderabad? 

See again the same thing comes. All Muslims are scared of AIMIM. Those goondas go around. They will tell all kinds of nonsense to the people. They tell people that ‘tum log jab vote daalte ho, to hamko vahan se slip aa jata, ek photo aata ki aap kis ko daal rahe ho’ 

(When you people cast your votes, we get a slip, we get a photo showing whom you have voted for)

The uneducated, poor who are low in confidence, fall for it. They start believing it. Now for other votes which never existed, they start rigging from 2-2.30 onwards in the afternoon. Now that it is heavy summer and now that we have come to know this, they are planning for early morning rigging. They are experts at rigging because the local police works with them.

How impactful has the movie on Razakars been? 

More than the electorate I would say that it has had a very big impact on knowing the history, which has been hidden from the newer generations.

With this they have understood what kind of pain and agony the people of Telangana have travelled through. BRS and Congress have taken votes and joined back with those Razakars. It's like backstabbing the voter.

Which sections of Muslims are particularly unhappy with Asaduddin Owaisi?

Pasmandas, women, the Shia community, the Agha community, the Ahmadiyya community, the Bohra community. Whom did he ever keep happy? For whom did he work? He only worked for a fistful of people to make them his protectors and to scare people.

What are some of the things you want to see in Viksit Hyderabad?

I want to get manufacturing units here to help the uneducated and poor men, women and youngsters. I want to give them the skills and deploy them for jobs. 

Second is to try to get maximum free education for children. 

Third, is to ensure that they are given homes to live. Because all the free homes have been eaten away by the BRS government. They declare them and then they don't give anybody. 

The living conditions of the SC-ST communities are pathetic. You just have to go to places like Pardiwala. People always target them. In spite of Ambedkar doing so much, Modi ji working so hard and that they are living in a city like Hyderabad, they still have to put up with all this. I want to improve their lives.

The other would be health. We need to have basti davakhanas.

These are the things that have to be changed.

Also Read: On the ground with Madhavi Latha, who is leading BJP's fight in Asaduddin Owaisi's fortress — report from Hyderabad