NEW YORK, Sept 30: Criticising opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi, India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said that the BJP leader’s attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the purported ‘dehati aurat’ remark shows that he does not like village women and likened him to a ‘parrot’ who makes utterances without verifying facts.

Mr Khurshid said there is nothing wrong in being a ‘dehati aurat’ and Mr Modi is out of touch with ground realities.

“Mr Modi does not like ‘dehati aurat’…Why should we think of a ‘dehati aurat’ being a pejorative term,” the minister was quoted by Hindustan Times as having said during an interview with Press Trust of India.Mr Khurshid was reacting to Mr Modi’s remarks that Mr Singh had been insulted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by purportedly comparing him with a village hag in the context of Mr Singh’s voicing concern over cross-LoC violence during his meeting with US President Barack Obama.

A Pakistani journalist had attributed the comment to Mr Sharif, though he reportedly later denied that the prime minister had used such a word.

“He (Modi) attacked the prime minister (Singh) on what Nawaz Sharif is supposed to have said or not have said. He didn’t bother to check, didn’t watch television, except when he is speaking, so it’s very difficult for him to know what others are saying and he takes what he has been told,” Mr Khurshid said.

“He has these whiz kids around him who probably don’t have enough experience of Indian politics and who may have served in another country who give him something and then he reads it out like a parrot,” Mr Khurshid said.

He said there was no reflection of the controversy during the Singh-Sharif meeting in New York.

“Modi has nothing else to say. He is a man devoid of logic. He lacks logic, lacks understanding of diplomacy and he lacks consistency in what he says,” Mr Khurshid said.

“I am not adding hypocrisy yet.” he added. “Anybody who suffers from these three shortcomings and I am not adding the fourth one yet, can’t be taken seriously,” he said.