New Delhi: Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his stance on caste and his "origins as a chaiwala", senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday asked if the PM considers people a "bunch of idiots" who have suffered memory loss.

The former finance minister's scathing attack on the Prime Minister came a day after Modi said in Kannauj that he does not believe in politics of caste. "Mr Narendra Modi is the first person who became PM later who campaigned wearing his caste on his sleeve (2014): 'I am an OBC'. Now, he says he has no caste!" Chidambaram tweeted. "In 2014 and thereafter, he said repeatedly that he is proud that the people elected a chaiwala as PM. Now he says, he never mentioned his origins as a chaiwala!