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.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s party has repeatedly accused both the BJP of targeting Muslims and regional Opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party of treating the community merely as a captive vote bank in UP
“I am so proud and honoured to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan. 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.
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. He was referring to the traditional political outreach where, according to him, minority voters are courted during elections without receiving substantive representation in return. “Michigan, we did it,” El-Sayed told hundreds of cheering supporters who hugged one another at his campaign headquarters in Detroit. 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. “You deserve to be able to see a doctor without getting a huge bill,” El-Sayed had said during his campaign.
