‘Courageous, despite being a woman’: Did Narendra Modi just offer the world’s worst compliment?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sparked outrage with his clumsy compliment to his Bangladeshi counterpart, praising her courage fighting terrorism “despite being a woman”.

#DespiteBeingAWoman was one of the top trends on the micro blogging site on Monday, with users expressing anger at what they said was a bigoted and sexist remark and posting pictures of famous female scientists, politicians and athletes.

Modi, who was on a two-day official visit to neighbouring Bangladesh, on Sunday told an audience at Dhaka University that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina showed that she was committed to ending terrorism which has plagued both South Asian nations.

“The world has still not found a solution on how to tackle terrorism. Even the UN is not in a position to provide guidance,” said Modi.

“I am happy that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, despite being a woman, is openly saying that she has zero tolerance for terrorism. I would like to congratulate Sheikh Hasina for her courage to deal with terrorism with zero tolerance,” he added.

Twitter users went into a frenzy early on Monday as Modi’s comments were picked up by local media, with many taking pot-shots at the Indian leader’s remark.