Both BJP and Congress are hankering for Hindu vote bank, Muslims have always been deceived: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Sunday that the Modi government would have to do a lot more to gain the confidence of Muslims 'whose minds have been poisoned over the last 70 years'.

File photo (PTI)

New Delhi: President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi said on Monday that both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were hankering for the Hindu vote bank. He added that the Muslims had always been deceived by saying 'you have a vote-bank'. 

"The reality is that in last Karnataka polls BJP did not give single Muslim ticket to contest for Assembly elections. There's no Muslim MP in Lok Sabha from BJP. This clearly shows that BJP is not interested in real political empowerment and development of the Muslim community. The same is with the Congress party. Both parties (BJP and Congress) are now hankering for Hindu vote bank. It is a fact that there has never been a Muslim vote-bank. Muslims have always been deceived by saying you have a vote-bank," he said, as per ANI.

The same is with the Congress party. Both parties (BJP & Congress) now hankering for Hindu vote bank. It is a fact that there has never been a Muslim vote-bank.Muslims have always been deceived by saying you have a vote-bank: Asaduddin Owaisi on BJP leader MA Naqvi's statement

— ANI (@ANI) June 18, 2018

Owaisi was reacting to Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi statement that the Narendra Modi government would have to do a lot more to gain the confidence of Muslims "whose minds have been poisoned over the last 70 years". He had also said on Sunday that the BJP government would remind Muslims of the schemes the government started for their development and the efforts it made against 'triple talaq' during the campaigning for the 2019 elections. 

"We have to do a lot more to gain the confidence of Muslims because their minds have been poisoned over the last 70 years. But, the good thing is that the new generation, the women are evaluating the BJP on its merits and demerits. This is a very positive development," Naqvi had told PTI. On the BJP's defeat in the recent Kairana bypolls, he had said that it had not affected the party's "winning spree", but had certainly prompted it to have re-look at its strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. 

"It does not mean that we will lose all the elections. Now that we know that the opposition parties will stitch an alliance to contest the Lok Sabha polls, we will prepare a strategy to counter them," Minority Affairs Minister had said. He had alleged that the Congress and other rival parties had "always used Muslims for vote bank politics" and had not done anything for their development, PTI had reported.

"The Congress and others always feel that Muslims will vote for them out of compulsion. So, they have never focused on their development and empowerment," he claimed, adding that the BJP government had honestly worked for the welfare of the community," Naqvi had said.

The BJP-led NDA government had taken various steps for "restoring the dignity" of Muslims and the BJP was not running after votes, he had maintained. "To vote or not to vote is their democratic right," Naqvi had said.

(With Agency inputs)