New Delhi:
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi today invoked the historic victory of Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the US Senate race in Michigan to call for a stronger Muslim political identity in Uttar Pradesh.
Reacting to El-Sayed becoming the first Muslim elected to the upper chamber of the US Congress, the Hyderabad MP said the result carried a message for voters closer home who face political taunts over their identity.
“An Abdul has won in Michigan; now the Abdul from Uttar Pradesh will have to strengthen his political identity,” Owaisi said in a post on X today.
“The Sanghis have tried very hard to turn ‘Abdul’ into a taunt. The time has come for us to show that Abdul does not bow to anyone but Allah. No more will we lay out the prayer mat,” Owaisi wrote in Hindi.
एक अब्दुल मिशिगन में जीत गया, अब उत्तर प्रदेश के अब्दुल को अपनी सियासी पहचान मज़बूत करनी होगी। संघियों ने “अब्दुल” को एक तंज़ में बदलने की बहुत कोशिश की है। वक़्त आ गया है कि हम दिखाएँ कि अब्दुल अल्लाह के सिवा किसी की ग़ुलामी नहीं करता। अब दरी नहीं बिछाएँगे।
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) November 4, 2026
He was referring to the traditional political outreach where, according to him, minority voters are courted during elections without receiving substantive representation in return.
In UP, where assembly elections are due in months and Muslims make up nearly a fifth of the electorate, the name ‘Abdul’ has frequently been used in political debates and social media exchanges as a shorthand for the minority community.
Owaisi’s party has repeatedly accused both the ruling BJP of targeting Muslims and regional Opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party of treating the community merely as a captive vote bank.
The AIMIM chief’s remarks came hours after American television networks called the high-stakes Michigan Senate contest in favour of El-Sayed, 42, a medical administrator who defeated former Republican lawmaker Mike Rogers to succeed retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters.
“Michigan, we did it,” El-Sayed told hundreds of cheering supporters who hugged one another at his campaign headquarters in Detroit. “I am so proud and honoured to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan.”
Throughout a bruising campaign, Republican leaders labelled Democratic contenders “communists” and sought to portray El-Sayed as a “terrorist”, while US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance mocked his Arabic name at political rallies.
Backed by organised labour unions, El-Sayed drew large crowds even in conservative Republican strongholds by campaigning against the multi-billion dollar for-profit medical sector and promising to remove “money out of politics”.
“You deserve to be able to see a doctor without getting a huge bill,” El-Sayed had said during his campaign.
