AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday urged party leaders to speak up when injustice is committed against Muslims, stressing that such issues should not be addressed merely under the broader label of “minorities.”
He called on Muslim leaders within the Congress to more strongly articulate issues affecting their community and push for greater Muslim representation within the party.
According to the Press Trust of India, Rahul Gandhi told a meeting of the Congress Minority Department’s advisory council that if injustice is committed against a Muslim, leaders should raise their voice explicitly, saying it happened to Muslims rather than only referring to them as members of a broader “minority” community.
Congress MP Imran Masood defended Rahul Gandhi’s remarks, saying there should be no hesitation in using the word “Muslim.”
“Why? Is Muslim an insult? I am a Muslim, I take pride in it, I am a Muslim. But I would sacrifice my life for a Hindu. This is Hindustan,” Masood said.
The remarks come amid growing unease among sections of Muslim leaders within the Congress over what they perceive as the party leadership’s “silence” on Muslim-specific concerns.
In recent months, several leaders reportedly expressed frustration that Rahul Gandhi often framed issues through broader categories such as minorities, OBCs, Dalits, and the poor, while rarely directly referring to Muslims in speeches and public interventions.
Some leaders are understood to have argued that this approach diluted targeted political advocacy for Muslims, particularly at a time when parties such as Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) were positioning themselves more explicitly around Muslim representation and rights.
The concerns were also reflected during a convention organised on May 16 by the Federation of Karnataka Muslim Organisations in Bengaluru, where participating groups reportedly accused the Congress government in Karnataka of adopting “soft Hindutva” politics and failing to fulfil promises made before the 2023 Assembly elections.
The remarks by Rahul Gandhi also triggered criticism from the BJP, with Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao accusing the Congress of increasingly turning into a “Muslim Congress.”
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