Maulana Sajid Rashidi on Tuesday, 22 September publicly challenged Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to declare Muslim candidates for the Chief Minister's post in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. His remarks injected a sharp new demand into an already volatile debate over Muslim political representation in India's most populous state.

The Owaisi Trigger

Rashidi's comments came directly in response to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who on Monday invited opposition parties to unite against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls and indicated his party's alliance decision would be announced by 2 October. Rashidi was dismissive of Owaisi's framing, saying that any party which claims to want to defeat the BJP is 'most probably in cahoots with them.'

He further argued that Muslims are not obligated to act as instruments of anti-BJP consolidation. 'You can grow your party from any part of the country; you can fight elections from any part of the country, but you can't instigate Muslims by saying we need to defeat the BJP,' he said.

Sharp Criticism of Congress and SP

Rashidi turned his fire on both Congress and SP, questioning their record in government. He alleged that Congress had harvested Muslim votes for sixty-five years without commensurate delivery, noting that the party itself had later acknowledged that Muslims in India were living in conditions worse than Dalits. He also alleged that Akhilesh Yadav had at a press conference labelled a Muslim journalist a BJP agent solely because the journalist was a Muslim wearing Ray-Ban glasses — an episode Rashidi cited as emblematic of how the SP treats its own supporters. 'Congress considers any Muslim who wears nice clothes, drives good cars or uses branded glasses as an agent of the BJP,' he added.

The CM Candidate Demand

Turning directly to Owaisi, Rashidi noted that the AIMIM leader had previously claimed a Muslim would become Prime Minister, yet had not committed to fielding a Muslim candidate for Chief Minister. He extended the same challenge to Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav: both should name Muslim CM candidates for 2027 if they genuinely seek the community's support. He went further, offering a conditional endorsement: 'I can assure that if Rahul Gandhi selects Muslim candidates for the upcoming elections, all our votes shall go to Congress and none to Samajwadi Party.'

What Lies Behind the Rhetoric

This comes amid growing competition among parties to secure Muslim voter blocs in Uttar Pradesh, where the community constitutes roughly 19% of the electorate. Notably, Rashidi also defended the BJP's record, asking why Muslims would oppose a party that has 'worked for the upliftment of Muslim children in Uttar Pradesh' — a position starkly at odds with the dominant opposition narrative. He called on Muslim voters to be 'very selective and careful' in 2027 to protect community interests.

What Comes Next

With AIMIM set to declare its alliance stance by 2 October, the coming weeks are likely to sharpen fault lines over Muslim political representation in the state. Whether Congress or SP respond to Rashidi's CM-candidate challenge will be closely watched as the parties calibrate their pre-election outreach strategies.