New Delhi: Fifty of the 90 newly elected Congress MLAs—around 55 per cent—from the four states that went to polls last month are from minority communities.
In Assam, 18 of the 19 Congress MLAs are Muslims from Barak Valley and Lower Assam, while the lone Hindu MLA came from Upper Assam, suggesting how the BJP was able to restrict the Congress to minority-dominated constituencies. Of the 63 Congress MLAs in Kerala, 20 are Christian and eight Muslim, indicating the party’s strong support base among the two communities which constitute 45 per cent of the state’s population. In West Bengal, both Congress MLAs are Muslim, while the party’s tally of five in Tamil Nadu includes one Muslim and one Christian MLA.
Citing Assam’s figures, BJP leader Amit Malviya said the Congress was morphing into “the New Muslim League”. On X, he posted, “Check the names of Congress MLAs in Assam. The pattern is hard to ignore. Congress is the new Muslim League.” Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) also called the Congress the “Muslim League”.
The Congress has pushed back with its own data, with spokesperson Supriya Shrinate stating that of its 664 MLAs nationwide, about 78 per cent are Hindu, 12 per cent Muslim and 10 per cent from other communities.
At the parliamentary level, data from the Election Commission shows that of the Congress’ 99 MPs in Lok Sabha, nine are Muslim, that is 10 per cent of the total strength.
On Wednesday, Congress media department head Pawan Khera responded to the controversy, saying it makes him “uncomfortable” to engage in such discussions, while describing the Congress as a secular party and questioning why votes are being assigned religious or political “colours”.
“Muslims rejected the BJP, and also rejected so-called Muslim parties, and chose a secular party instead. Yet there are still complaints. I don’t understand why votes are being given colours—saffron, green, blue. Even talking about the proportion of Hindu and Muslim MLAs makes me uncomfortable, but we are forced to discuss it today… Is this the language of the Constitution? Does this kind of political culture align with Ambedkar’s Constitution?” he asked at a press conference on Sunday afternoon.
Other senior leaders of the Congress including Manish Tewari also hit back at Malviya on social media.
In the 140-member Kerala Assembly, there are 35 Muslim MLAs in total, of which 30 are from the UDF. Congress ally IUML has 22 MLAs, all Muslims. The Kerala Congress has 7 Christian MLAs and the RSP has one Christian and two Hindu MLAs (of which one is from a reserved constituency).
In Tamil Nadu, Congress secured five seats, with one MLA from the Christian community, Tharahai Cuthbert, and one from the Muslim community, Jamal Mohamed Younoos. In West Bengal, the Indian National Congress won just two seats—Farakka and Raninagar—and both MLAs are Muslim.
Professor Chandrachur Singh, political analyst, explained the emergence of the perception.
“The problem is that the Congress has often failed to distinguish between protection and appeasement, however it is not a ‘Muslim party’ in any structural sense—it remains a centrist formation—but it has, over time, developed a visible left-leaning orientation that makes it more accommodative towards minorities—their only stable votebank as of now,” he told ThePrint.
“Historically, the Congress attempted to build a broad coalition—upper classes, minorities, Dalits and OBCs—but as these social blocs shifted away, it has increasingly been left relying on the minority vote, particularly Muslims. That creates a perception problem, which its political opponents, especially the BJP, have been able to aggressively weaponise,” he added.
These concerns are not new, after the 2014 defeat, an internal review led by senior Congress leader A. K. Antony said the party was being seen as “pro-minority”, which hurt it electorally, and that many people felt the Congress “bats for a few communities, especially minorities”.
Speaking at an event in Kerala in 2014, A. K. Antony said that some sections of society perceive the party as being inclined towards certain communities or organisations, even though its stated position remains one of “equal justice for all”.
Antony had also asked leaders across states to look at ground realities and suggest changes, warning that if these perceptions were not addressed, they could allow communal forces to gain ground within the party.
A senior Congress leader and a former chief minister told ThePrint that Sonia Gandhi “feels deeply about minorities and her concerns are genuine”, but added that these concerns “have not always translated into political outcomes or on-ground reality”.
Revanth Reddy, the Chief Minister of Telangana, in 2025 had said that “Congress means Muslims and Muslims mean Congress”, a remark that drew sharp criticism from the BJP, which further cited it as evidence of minority appeasement.
Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks in 2006 that minorities, particularly Muslims, should have “first claim” on development resources drew sharp criticism from the BJP, which accused the UPA government of moving beyond minority welfare to explicitly wooing the Muslim community.
Congress manifestos have also consistently included commitments to protect minorities and expand targeted welfare—through measures such as scholarships, economic support schemes.
Experts say this is more about changing electoral dynamics than a single strategy. As the BJP has consolidated a large share of the Hindu vote, the Congress has seen its broader social base weaken. As a result, its reliance on alliances and minority support has become more visible in some states, reflecting a more segmented electoral landscape rather than a uniformly broad voter base.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)