Following AIMIM's successes in Bihar and Maharashtra, several Muslim leaders in the Congress have voiced unease over the party's leadership maintaining silence on issues affecting the Muslim community. They accuse Rahul Gandhi of avoiding the word 'Muslim' in his speeches. This has sparked fears that the party is ceding space to rivals like AIMIM.
The improved performance of Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM in last year's Bihar Assembly polls, where it secured five seats in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region, and its win of eight wards in this month's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections have stirred unease within the Congress, especially among its Muslim leaders. They accuse the party's top brass of a 'measured' silence on community issues, fearing it could lead to losing ground to AIMIM. In Seemanchal's 24 constituencies, the NDA won 14 seats, while the opposition Mahagathbandhan got five, with Congress taking four and RJD one; AIMIM's tally matched its 2020 result.
Former Union Minister Shakeel Ahmad, a three-term MLA and two-time MP who quit the party in 2025, sparked controversy by calling Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi 'insecure' and 'scared'. He alleged the Congress has ignored its Muslim leaders. 'While I think Owaisi doesn’t help the cause of Muslim representation, there are takers for his politics among the community. I have always maintained that the Congress should take a secular line and not be scared to speak on Muslim issues. There is a section of leaders who have convinced the Congress high command that talking of Muslim issues will hamper the party’s chance of getting votes of the Hindu community,' Ahmad told The Indian Express.
Senior Maharashtra Congress leader Husain Dalwai, a former Rajya Sabha MP, labeled AIMIM the 'B team' of the BJP and blamed the party's failure to firmly support Muslims for AIMIM's success. 'It is the Congress’s mistake. The party is ignoring Muslims, and that is why Muslims are also ignoring the Congress,' he said. Congress won only 24 seats in the 227-member BMC.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Raashid Alvi raised alarms over the shrinking space for Muslim leaders in Congress, citing exits like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Naseemuddin Siddiqui. 'The Muslim leaders are not power hungry. Also, they don’t have any space within the BJP so they can’t go there. Then, why are they leaving Congress? It is because the space for Muslim leaders in the party is shrinking,' Alvi said. An AICC leader from the Muslim community noted that Rahul Gandhi never uses the word 'Muslim' in speeches, focusing instead on Scheduled Castes, Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.
Another Uttar Pradesh Congress Muslim leader highlighted the party's silence on issues like lynchings, arrests for offering namaz on private property, or mosque demolitions in Delhi, contrasting it with vocal responses to Hindu-related incidents. However, a Maharashtra AICC Muslim leader countered that the party's approach prevents it from being branded a 'Muslim party', arguing the silence is strategic to avoid alienating Hindus and benefits the community long-term.