Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at an election night event, early Wednesday, November 4, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo)“Now that an Abdul has won in Michigan, the Abdul from Uttar Pradesh will have to strengthen his political identity,” All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said on Wednesday as results for the US midterms rolled in.Hours earlier, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate after winning in Michigan.“An Abdul has won in Michigan; now the Abdul from Uttar Pradesh will have to strengthen his political identity. 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 posted on X.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, 2026In recent speeches in Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi has asked Muslims to stop depending on the Nehru-Gandhis or Yadavs and build leaders from within the community.At a rally in Rampur late last month, Owaisi had said, “Their issue is that they don’t want an Abdul (a reference to Muslims) to become a leader. Abdul’s only job would be to lay down rugs for members of the Nehru-Gandhi or Yadav clan to set down their pillows on and relax… Abdul has not come into this world just to roll out carpets.”His comments had attracted criticism from the Telangana Congress. “Owaisi is exporting a leadership formula he never implemented in Hyderabad or Telangana,” Congress’s Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency in-charge Mohammed Waliullah Sameer had told The Indian Express. Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his wife Sarah Jukaku (right), attend a church service at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ, Nov. 1 in Detroit. (AP Photo)Owaisi’s comments line up with his broad strategy in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Over the last few months, Owaisi has intensified his campaign across the state, often addressing public meetings in strongholds of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress.ALSO READ | Indian-American candidates in US midterms 2026: Who won and who lostHe has launched some of his sharpest attacks on SP president Akhilesh Yadav and the party’s Muslim legislators and the local leadership, accusing them of failing to safeguard the interests of Muslims and treating them as a vote bank.Story continues below this adSimultaneously, he has kept the door open for an alliance with the SP, saying his party was willing to join hands with other Opposition parties to stop a hat-trick of BJP wins in the state, provided the AIMIM is given “hissedari (political partnership)” and not asked to play the role of a subordinate.Sreenivas Janyala is a Deputy Associate Editor at The Indian Express, where he serves as one of the ... Read More Tags:Asaduddin OwaisiUttar Pradesh