New Delhi, Aug 30 (IBNS): Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi finds himself caught in a controversy over his comment that girls in his state were malnourished because they are more beauty conscious. 

He made the remark in an interview with US business daily Wall Street Journal.

In the interview to the daily when asked how he would combat malnutrition in the state, where the rates are persistently high, Modi said: "Gujarat is by and large a vegetarian state. And secondly, Gujarat is also a middle-class state. The middle-class is more beauty conscious than health conscious – that is a challenge."

"If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, they’ll have a fight. She’ll tell her mother, 'I won’t drink milk. I’ll get fat.' We will try to get a drastic change in this."

"Gujarat is going to come up as a model in this also. I can’t make any big claims, because I don’t have a survey in front of me yet," he said.

The remark of Modi drew flak with the Congress slamming him while the Twitterati also reacting sharply.

Congress Gujarat leader Arjun Modhwadia called the remark of Modi "an insult to women."