Former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin has been appointed as a minister in the Revanth Reddy-led Telangana cabinet.
The timing of his appointment; just ahead of elections in the Jubilee Hills constituency, which has nearly one lakh Muslim voters; has raised eyebrows but surprised few.
The Congress Party has long been accused of appeasing the Muslim community in the name of secularism, while using it largely as a vote bank.
Azharuddin’s elevation has now reignited that criticism, leaving the party open to charges of hypocrisy.
Azharuddin once held one of the highest honours in Indian sports, captaining the national cricket team.
However, his career came to a disgraceful end after he was found involved in a match-fixing scandal, leading to a life ban imposed by the BCCI.
Although the Andhra Pradesh High Court later overturned the ban, calling it “illegal and unsustainable,” it did not clear him of the allegations.
At the time, Azhar claimed he was being targeted because he was a Muslim; a statement that drew widespread criticism.
Though he later apologised, his remarks reflected the tendency of some to play the victim card even when guilty of wrongdoing.
This raises a serious moral question: how can the Congress Party justify appointing someone once accused of betraying the nation?
When BJP leader Kishan Reddy called him a “deshdrohi” (traitor), Azhar responded mockingly, asking, “What does Kishan Reddy know? Has he ever picked up a bat in his life?”
Such a defence misses the point entirely; betrayal of national trust has nothing to do with one’s cricketing skill.
Adding to the controversy, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy recently stated, “If Congress exists, then Muslims exist. Without Congress, Muslims are nothing.”
Statements like these underline how deeply the Congress’s politics of appeasement run.
The “Azharuddin affair” has, once again, laid bare the Congress Party’s double standards; championing morality in public, but bending principles for political gain.