Asaduddin Owaisi (file photo) | Photo Credit: PTI

New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has claimed that there has "never been a Muslim vote bank". News agency ANi quoted the AIMIM chief as saying that Muslims have always been deceived by being told that they have a significant vote bank. Owaisi was reacting to remarks by Union Minorities Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who said that the government needs to "do a lot more to gain the confidence of Muslims, whose minds have been poisoned over the last 70 years."

"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," Owaisi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "Both parties (BJP and Congress) are now hankering for the Hindu vote bank. In the last Karnataka polls, the BJP did not give single a Muslim ticket to contest for assembly elections.

There's no Muslim MP in Lok Sabha from the BJP. This clearly shows they are not interested in real political empowerment and development of the Muslim community. The same is with the Congress party," he added. Naqvi had said that a lot needs to be done by the government in order to gain the confidence of Muslims.

"A lot has changed in the last four years; there is a palpable change in the way Muslims feel about the BJP, there is an atmosphere of confidence. We have done a lot of work. But there has been a misinformation campaign for 70 years; minds have been poisoned for that long. This is not about elections; it's about generating confidence in people," The Indian Express had quoted Naqvi, as saying.