The Congress party’s political mask has finally slipped, this time not by the BJP’s accusations or by public perception, but by the admission of its own Chief Minister. When Telangana’s A. Revanth Reddy told Muslim voters that “Congress hai to Muslims hai, bagar Congress Muslims kuch bhi nahin,” he was not merely speaking in the heat of an election rally. He was confessing the core political doctrine that Congress has tried to hide for decades: the belief that Muslims must depend on Congress for existence, identity, and empowerment. That statement alone exposes the party’s deeply divisive worldview. It reveals Congress not as a broad-based national alternative, but as a party reduced to narrow vote-bank preservation.
Why would a Chief Minister, barely a year into office, take such a dangerous and degrading stance? Analysts see two reasons. Either Revanth Reddy is desperate to pull Muslim votes away from KCR’s BRS and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM in Hyderabad, or the real Revanth — once an ideological foot-soldier of the ABVP and then a TDP loyalist — wants to hollow out the Congress from within. Yet the more plausible answer is simple: panic and political bankruptcy. A once-mighty party that ruled India uninterrupted for six decades has now shrunk into irrelevance in most of the country, unable to win without exploiting the insecurities of a single community. Revanth’s statement is the latest sign of a nervous Congress clinging to its old formula, unaware that voters have outgrown it.
Rahul Gandhi, the self-proclaimed conscience-keeper of the nation, has only accelerated this decline. His politics — often written by foreign-backed advisers rooting for instability in India — has turned Congress into a global megaphone for manufactured victimhood and minority fear. After humiliating losses in 2014, 2019 and 2024, instead of learning from defeat, the party now pushes conspiracy theories of “vote chori” and delegitimizes India’s democratic choices. National media investigations have repeatedly shown these claims to be empty rhetoric. But Rahul persists, because victimhood politics is the only strategy he understands — a strategy that deepens polarization and invites international actors to meddle in domestic affairs. Congress seems to believe that if democracy does not give them victory, then discrediting democracy itself becomes the solution.
This frustration has now turned into a coordinated attempt to mobilize young people into chaos. The Congress-led I.N.D.I. alliance openly incites protests and campus unrest, dreaming of a “Gen-Z uprising” similar to what toppled governments in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. When ideas fail, the party seeks disorder. And when the people deny them legitimacy, they pursue street power over ballot power.
Revanth Reddy appears to be replicating this destabilizing political script in Telangana. He inherited a financial mess — and made it worse. The state exchequer is drying up, welfare promises are unfunded, and property auctions meant to generate revenue face legal obstacles. Economic stagnation is visible, and public anger is rising. Meanwhile, discontent is brewing within Congress’s own ranks: a newcomer with a history outside the party has been imposed above senior loyalists, and whispers of leadership change grow louder in Delhi. Revanth’s anxieties are not hidden — his grip on power already appears tenuous.
This is precisely why he targeted Muslims in such an undignified manner. Instead of offering development, he offers dependency. Instead of treating minorities as equal citizens, he reduces them to helpless clients of one political family. This politics is not empowerment — it is enslavement. It tells an entire community that their future exists only under Congress’s mercy. It insults their intelligence, denies their agency, and assumes their loyalty is for sale in every election.
But Muslims, like all Indians today, seek progress — not pity. They see that opportunities are growing even in governments they were told to fear. They see representation rising beyond Congress’s monopoly. They see national security strengthened, welfare delivered without discrimination, and economic aspirations recognized. The fear narrative that Congress relied on for decades is collapsing — and with it, the party’s only survival mechanism.
The party that once claimed stewardship of India’s secularism now stands exposed as the most sectarian force in national politics. Its leaders have abused Hindu symbols, vilified majority sentiment, demonized Hindutva as a threat while glorifying selective minority exceptionalism, and repeatedly targeted cultural institutions like the RSS with calls for a ban. Yet it is Congress that today seeks to divide India permanently into “protectors” and “protected,” never allowing citizens to rise beyond religious identity.
Revanth’s words are not a mistake; they are a mirror. They reflect Rahul Gandhi’s strategy, Sonia Gandhi’s legacy, and the Congress ecosystem’s survival instinct. The party has transformed itself from the engine of India’s freedom movement into an interest group representing only one slice of society. Its national relevance is gone. Its ideological clarity is gone. Its mass appeal is gone. All that remains is a shrinking vote-bank it seeks to frighten into loyalty.
But India has changed. Young Indians reject leaders who stoke insecurity and dependency. They reward political stability, governance, and national confidence. They reject elitist paternalism from a dynasty that has lost touch with the nation’s pulse. Congress refuses to accept this new India, and therefore continues to lose ground in every direction.
History has a cruel symmetry. A party that once united the nation is now dividing it for survival. A party that once shaped India’s rise is now obstructing its momentum. A party that once symbolized national pride now trades in national pessimism. Revanth Reddy may believe his aggressive appeasement can secure votes. Rahul Gandhi may believe endless disruption can secure power. But the country has understood the game.
Congress has unmasked itself. And when a party openly admits that its fortunes depend entirely on keeping one community fearful, insecure, and dependent, its obituary has already been written.
India has moved on. It is only Congress that still lives in 1947.
