PM must do homework before making statements: Congress

The Congress on Saturday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark on caste quota, saying that the latter must do his homework before making any such statements.

"My advice to the Prime Minister is to redo his arithmetic and his numbers. In his anxiety and desperation for the Bihar elections, he forgot what a child also knows that how to add up numbers," Congress leader Anand Sharma said.

"In Bihar, he said that the Mahagathbandhan will give 5 percent each to the minorities, scheduled castes and the backward classes. It makes a total of 20 percent and the whole population of the community he is talking about is 16 percent," he added.

Sharma further said, "It makes this clear that he does not even do his homework before making such a statement. This is a sick thinking and this will be injurious for the nation. It will be better if he thinks before saying."

Prime Minister Modi had on Monday accused the grand alliance of trying to snatch a chunk off caste quotas in favour of a religious community.

"Leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and Congress are conspiring to snatch away 5% of SC, ST and OBC reservation and give it to a religious community. But this son of a poor EBC tea-seller will put his life on the line to protect your job quota in its entirety," Modi said at an election rally at Buxar.