BJP leader's statement from April that ‘Indian Muslims cannot be terrorists’ shared as recent after election loss

What’s the claim?

A video of Kompella Madhavi Latha, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate from Hyderabad, Telangana, is being widely circulating on social media where she says "Indian Muslims cannot be terrorists" in response to a question. The claim accompanying the video suggests that she made this statement after losing the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat to Asaduddin Owaisi, a leader of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) party.

A user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video with the caption: “As soon as I lost the election, I became wise.” At the time of writing this story, the post had over 24,000 views. An archived version of another such post on X can be seen here.

The clip has also gone viral on Facebook and YouTube, with a similar claim. Archived versions of such posts can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the context is misleading as the video was recorded during her campaign in April 2024, not after the election results were announced on June 4, 2024.

What we found

Through a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral clip, Logically Facts found a longer version on YouTube, posted by India Today SoSouth (archived here) on April 24, 2024. In response to a reporter asking whether she believes Muslims are terrorists, at the 2:27-minute mark in the video, Latha says, "Indian Muslims can never be terrorists, but those children that are poor, or have been misguided under the name of religion, what can we say about them?"

This video was also published on YouTube by Hyderabad Festivals (archived here) on April 22, 2024. The viral portion can be heard at 1:18-minute mark.

A report by The Print, published on April 20, 2024, featured images of Latha resembling those in the now-viral clip. According to the report, a Muslim law student asked her the question, and her response that "Indian Muslims cannot be terrorists" is going viral now. According to the article, she made this statement during her padayatra in Hyderabad on April 13, 2024. Therefore it confirms that the video was recorded before the election results were announced.

Earlier, a video of Latha went viral online, showing her shooting an imaginary arrow near a mosque during an election rally. This sparked controversy, with allegations that she was specifically targeting the mosque and was perceived as a provocative gesture. Later, the BJP leader clarified the viral clip on X (archived here) was “edited” to portray her negatively, and apologized if anyone's feelings were hurt by the video. An FIR was also registered against her following the incident.

The verdict

An election campaign video of Latha is being circulated falsely claiming that she made the statement in support of Indian Muslims after losing the elections.