Fact Check: Did BJP's Hyderabad Pick Madhavi Latha Say "I Am Not A Woman?"

A video of actress turned politician Madhavi Latha where she says "I am not a woman," during an interview, is cropped and is being shared with a false claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Hyderabad said she is not a woman. BOOM found that the video has been cropped and is being shared out of context to make the false claim. In the original interview, Ms Latha was in fact stating that she is not just a woman but Shakti (divine feminine force) herself.

Ms Latha, an actress by profession was announced by the BJP as their candidate in Hyderabad, Telangana against sitting MP Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). In a recent campaign event, Ms Latha was seen gesturing firing an arrow towards a mosque which she later claimed was aimed towards the sky to mark the Hindu festival of Ram Navami.

She has also emerged as one of the richest candidates from Hyderabad constituency, after she declared family assets (movable and immovable) worth Rs 221 crore.

In the viral video, Ms Latha is giving an interview to a news channel and in answer to a question from the reporter about dealing with a situation as a woman, she says, "I am not a woman. Please don't keep calling me one" and repeats the same towards the camera directly.

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FACT CHECK 

BOOM found that the video is cropped and shared out of context to make the false claim that Ms Latha stated that she is not a woman. We first noticed that the reporter was holding a mic with the logo of 'News Nation', a Hindi news channel. Using this, we ran a search on the channel's YouTube account for the keyword 'Madhavi Latha' and found an interview of the leader uploaded on March 3, 2024. 

In the video, Ms Latha who is wearing the same saree as in the viral one. Ms Latha is answering a range of questions about Mr Owaisi, her joining BJP and also about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At the 1.56, the reporter talks about how no BJP leader has ever visited some areas in the old city part of Hyderabad, like Talab Katta, one of the largest slum settlements in the city. He then asks Ms Latha, "As a woman, how do you plan to deal with that situation?" 

To this, Ms Latha answers with an annoyed tone in Hindi. Her statement roughly translates in English to, "I am not a woman, I am Shakti. You should first clarify that. Don't call me a mahila (woman) repeatedly. It appears like you consider me weak." After this at the, 2 minutes 7 second counter, Ms Latha turns to the camera, directly addressing viewers and says, "I am not a woman alone, I am Shakti herself who is here, with the strength of her brothers and sisters. I am staying because of their strength..."

 While the word Shakti translates to "power", it is also used to refer to a divine feminine force, worshipped in different forms in Hinduism. In the viral video, the part where Ms Latha continues her statement and says, "I am not a woman but shakti herself" has been clipped out to make the false claim.

(This story was originally published by BOOM, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)