Owaisi tells UP Muslims to lead. Congress asks: ‘What did you do in Telangana?

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s recent speeches in Uttar Pradesh, asking Muslims to stop depending on the Nehru-Gandhis or Yadavs and build leaders from within the community, have not gone down well with the Telangana Congress. The leaders of the state’s ruling party have accused the Hyderabad MP of “exporting a leadership formula he never implemented” in his own city or state.

“Owaisi is exporting a leadership formula he never implemented in Hyderabad or Telangana,” Congress’s Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency in-charge Mohammed Waliullah Sameer told The Indian Express.

Sameer, a former District Congress Committee (DCC) president, said Owaisi must first answer a simple question: “How many independent Muslim leaders had the AIMIM actually created outside its traditional pockets during decades of political dominance in Telangana?”

He said, “Owaisi is telling Muslims in Uttar Pradesh that Abdul should no longer spread the carpet for others and should himself become a leader. Fine. But before giving this advice in Azamgarh or Rampur, he should tell us what happened to Abdul in Telangana. Why was he never allowed to move beyond a few select constituencies?”

Earlier this week, at a rally in Rampur, Owaisi said, “Their issue is that they don’t want an Abdul (a reference to Muslims) to become a leader. Abdul’s only job would be to lay down rugs for members of the Nehru-Gandhi or Yadav clan to set down their pillows on and relax… Abdul has not come into this world just to roll out carpets.”

Telangana government adviser Shabbir Ali said, “Why is Owaisi using phrases like Abdul and the carpet, sherwani, daadhi (beard), and topi (skullcap)? It makes Muslims look like meek followers.”

The representation question

Congress leader Shama Mohamed asked why the AIMIM was contesting only nine out of 119 Assembly seats in Telangana. “Why does he (Owaisi) not give tickets to Muslim youths to contest in other seats?”

Sameer said the debate should not be reduced to whether Muslims need greater political representation or not, because there was no disagreement on that issue. “Muslims certainly need more representation. They need more MLAs, MPs, ministers, mayors, councillors and party office-bearers. But the real question is whether Owaisi has expanded that representation or simply monopolised it in a limited geography,” he said.

Echoing Mohamed’s views, he asked, “If Owaisi genuinely believes that Muslim youth are being denied platforms by larger parties, why did AIMIM itself leave 110 Assembly constituencies untouched (in the 2023 state elections)? Were there no capable Muslim lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, social workers, women or educated youngsters in those constituencies?”

Sameer said the contradiction became sharper because the AIMIM had supported the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in most constituencies where it did not field candidates. “In Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi says Muslims should stop depending on others. In Telangana, he voluntarily handed over political space to another party. That is not independent leadership. That is selective politics,” he said.

“In Telangana, there has been no serious attempt (on the AIMIM’s part) to create a statewide generation of Muslim leadership,” he said, adding that if it happens, the Hyderabad MP’s comments in UP will be considered “credible”.

Sameer said Hyderabad should have become the strongest advertisement for Owaisi’s political model if his claims were genuine. “For decades, the AIMIM has had elected representatives, municipal influence and a permanent parliamentary presence from Hyderabad. If that model had truly transformed Muslim political power, Hyderabad today should have been producing dozens of leaders from ordinary families with statewide and national stature,” he said.

“Muslim voters are not people who have spent decades spreading carpets for politicians. They have repeatedly made strategic choices based on the political situation before them. Sometimes they backed the Congress, sometimes regional parties, sometimes Independents and sometimes the AIMIM. They do not need anyone to certify their political intelligence,” he said.