Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday reacted to Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that his government had done nothing to help the disadvantaged castes, arguing such comments were false and provocative.

He also hit back at Rahul's comment about having seen drunken youths on Varanasi's streets at night, saying those who are "out of their senses" are dubbing the youth as drunkards.

"Anybody who provokes people in the name of caste is harming humanity. Every Dalit and backward person in the country should keep in mind that the people of the INDIA Alliance are provoking people in the name of caste," Modi said at a commemoration of poet-saint Ravidas’s 647th birth anniversary in Varanasi on Friday.

He did not name Rahul or the Congress but his target was clear.

"They oppose the schemes launched for Dalits and the underprivileged. The truth is that these people do family-centric, selfish politics in the name of the welfare of the (lower) castes. They ridiculed the toilet scheme and Jan Dhan accounts, and opposed Digital India," he said.

Modi said after inaugurating a dairy: "The yuvaraj (prince) of the Congress dubs the youths of Kashi and Uttar Pradesh as drunkards. Those who are out of their senses are calling my youths of Kashi and Uttar Pradesh drunkards. Those who are into dynastic politics must know that the youth will change the future of Uttar Pradesh.”