'Of course Modi does not like dehati aurat'

Slamming Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the purported dehati aurat (village woman) remark shows that he does not like village women and likened him to a "parrot" who makes utterances without verifying facts.

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

"Modi does not like dehati aurat. Of course he does not like dehati aurat. Why should we think of a dehati aurat being a pejorative term," he told PTI in an interview in New York.

He was reacting to Modi's remarks that Singh had been insulted by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by purportedly comparing him with dehati aurat in the context of his voicing concern over cross border terrorism during his meeting with US President Barack Obama.

A Pakistani journalist, who first attributed the dehati aurat comment to Sharif, later denied that the Pakistani Prime Minister had used such a word.

"He (Modi) attacked Prime Minister 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," the minister 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," Khurshid alleged.

"Shouldn't he ascertain facts or is he allergic to facts? (Union Finance Minister P) Chidambaram said he does fake encounter with facts. I personally think he is allergic to facts," he said.

Khurshid 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," 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.

"Our message to Modi is why don't you now stop reacting to what others are doing and start saying something about yourself. He doesn't say anything about himself. Has he not said what his policy on Pakistan is, policy on one rank one pension is, policy on communal violence is, police and human rights is? Has he said what his policy is on anything?" Khurshid asked.