Priyanka Gandhi Vadra challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to publicly commit to conduct the caste census.

Addressing an election rally at Shirdi, in Maharashtra, on Saturday, the Congress leader said, “I challenge PM Modi and HM Amit Shah to stand on a stage and declare that they will conduct a caste census and remove the 50% cap on reservation.”

She pointed out that her brother Rahul Gandhi undertook the Bharat Jodo Yatra to advocate caste census. “The BJP claims that my brother is against reservation. This is the same person (Rahul Gandhi) who walked from Manipur to Mumbai demanding justice. He walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir demanding a caste census. They spread lies because they are scared. How can we allocate reservations effectively without knowing the population composition of each caste,” she asked.

“Today, I am surprised that in this very Maharashtra about which we are all proud, our entire country is proud, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is being insulted and you are being insulted. The statue built in Sindhudurg was destroyed because there was so much corruption in its construction,” she said.

She alleged that the industries meant for Maharashtra were diverted to other states. “When this country was built, whether it was Pandit Nehru or Indira Gandhi, when factories were built, they did not discriminate. Different things were made in each state. Different things were made in different states. Manmohan Singh decided to set up an International Financial Services Centre in Mumbai. But it was shifted to Gujarat. Investment worth about Rs 10 lakh crore was diverted from Maharashtra, 8 lakh jobs were moved out of Maharashtra, and more than 6,000 industries were closed. You name it, Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor project, Tata Airbus project or bulk drug park project. Everything has been diverted,” she said.

“Modi has gone abroad even before the election campaign is not over. He is doing nothing except diverting your attention. I want to ask Modi what conditions he has created for onion farmers. What will the cotton farmer do? You have imposed GST on GST for these farmers. GST on whatever has to be bought. GST on tractors… GST on fertilisers… They don’t get the right price,” she said.

“Farmers are in trouble today, you have been the Prime Minister for 10 years. You have not done anything. So, with what face are you saying you will take Maharashtra forward and that you will strengthen the farmers of the country,” she asked.

Continuing her attack on the PM, the Congress leader said, “First, you banned the export of onions. After the ban was lifted, you imposed duty on exports. You reduced prices by importing cotton. Then you attacked farmers from all sides, increased the duty on the export of milk as well. Milk producing farmers do not get the price of milk which they got during Congress government rule”.