Mumbai, Nov 15 (IANS) The Congress called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party to specify their stance on the issue of Caste Census and SC/ST reservations, as the party announced Rs 7000/quintal MSP for soybean farmers, here on Friday.

Reacting to PM Modi’s statements in Mumbai that the Congress will end quotas for SC/ST, AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala dismissed them as “absolutely baseless and outright false” while countering the PM and BJP on the Caste Census.

“It was the Congress which extended the rights and reservations to various backward classes through the Constitution of India. The Constitution of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar freed the people of deprived sections from the atrocities committed by the Manuwadis for years,” said Chennithala.

Hitting back, he said it is the BJP and PM Modi who want to end reservations and change the Constitution, but they are now blaming the Congress for their mistakes.

Speaking to media persons here, Chennithala pointed out that in the past couple of years, Rahul Gandhi had walked the length and breadth of India to get justice for the Dalits, OBCs, Tribals and other communities, and also raised the demand for a Caste Census in the country.

“The BJP should clarify the role of the PM on the caste-wise census. The BJP is opposed to the caste-wise census which is why PM Modi is falsely accusing the Congress party of attempting to end reservations. We strongly protest these baseless allegations,” declared Chennithala.

The Congress has also uploaded a video of the MahaYuti rally at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park this week addressed by the PM showing huge tracts of empty chairs.

“The Assembly election campaign rallies of the PM are not getting any response from the people of Maharashtra. Even the Shivaji Park rally got very poor attendance as people are tired of Modi’s lies… He was actually addressing empty chairs there,” said Chennithala.

This is because the PM and BJP have cheated the farmers and have not kept their promise of giving minimum support prices to soybean, onion and cotton farmers.

In a significant development, the Congress on Friday announced that it would give an MSP remuneration of Rs 7000/quintal for soybeans after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government comes to power later this month.

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi said that the MVA will take the historic step, plus bonus and set up a committee to fix a fair price for onion and cotton for the benefit of the growers.

“MSP is the right for cotton (farmers) too. For the last three elections, BJP has been promising MSP of Rs 6000/quintal for soybeans, but even today, the farmers are forced to sell off their crops with Rs 3000- 4000/quintal. The MVA will give our farmers their rights, fruits of hard work and justice,” said Rahul Gandhi.

Present on the occasion were top state Congress leaders like Nana Gawande, Brij Dutt, Surendra Rajput and others.