We Don’t Need Another Gandhi or Nehru: Owaisi

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has launched a scathing attack on the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, calling for independent political leadership to emerge from Muslim and marginalised communities. He made the remarks while addressing a rally in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Owaisi urged voters to move beyond traditional political parties and established leaders. He argued that minority communities should develop their own leadership rather than depend on other major parties for representation.

Pointing to restrictions on political dissent, Mr. Owaisi said, “We don’t need another Gandhi or Nehru; we need our own leaders now. A political culture has been created in which Muslims are expected to keep supporting established leaders, but this has not resulted in proper representation. Nobody speaks about our hardships. These days, the police detain people and direct them not to protest throughout the year.”

Mr. Owaisi strongly criticised political groups that urge Muslims to support traditional parties in the hope that leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi will emerge from them. Emphasising the need for independent leadership, he said, “They say, ‘Support them.’ And I say, ‘Become a leader yourself. ’ We are nobody’s slaves.”
The AIMIM chief also targeted Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, drawing parallels between contemporary politics and political debates within the Congress before India’s independence.

Referring to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Mr. Owaisi alleged that established political leaders had consistently treated Muslims as a vote bank without empowering Muslim leaders. He cited the political discussions surrounding the Congress presidency in 1946, when Mahatma Gandhi supported Nehru over Azad for the post.

Mr. Owaisi argued that the episode reflected a longstanding political pattern in which minority communities are asked to stand behind prominent political figures while their own leaders are denied the opportunity to build significant political influence. Comparing Gandhi’s actions at the time with Akhilesh Yadav’s present-day politics, he alleged that the Samajwadi Party was following the same path.

Azamgarh has long been considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party and an important electoral battleground. Mr. Owaisi’s speech there signals AIMIM’s attempt to challenge Uttar Pradesh’s traditional political equations by directly reaching out to Muslims and other disadvantaged communities.

His call for independent leadership emphasises the need to move beyond the practice of supporting established political parties and build political representation from within these communities. Mr. Owaisi has repeatedly argued that minorities should not be treated merely as a “vote bank” but should have a greater role in decision-making.