Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday took potshots at The Financial Times in a series of tweets, questioning the British financial newspaper's reporting of the violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday night. Javadekar criticised FT for identifying the miscreants as "nationalist," because the identities of the miscreants are yet to be established.

The comments by Javadekar are a rare instance of a Union minister attacking a foreign publication for its coverage of India.

"Dear @FT, Technologists across the world would be eager to get the tech possessed by you, which helps decipher that a masked mob is ‘nationalist’. Also, all universities & institutions in our country are secular," Javadekar posted a tweet.

Dear @FT, Technologists across the world would be eager to get the tech possessed by you, which helps decipher that a masked mob is ‘nationalist’. Also, all universities & institutions in our country are secular.

— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) January 6, 2020

Several students, including Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, were badly injured in violence between ABVP and Left students at the JNU campus on Sunday evening.

In another tweet, Javadekar questioned the FT's reporting and understanding of India.

"I hate to break it to you, but so shallow is your reporting & understanding of India, that the last time you predicted social unrest in India was over rising onion prices! @FT," he tweeted.

I know it’s a bit too much for you to understand India, but here’s an effort: Stop predicting the breaking apart of India at every possible chance you get. India is a diverse democracy and it has always assimilated all differences to emerge stronger.@FT

— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) January 6, 2020

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had earlier blamed the opposition Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and Left parties for the violence in JNU.

Taking to Twitter, Javadekar said: "I condemn yesterday's violence in JNU. Few elements along with a group from Congress, AAP and Communists deliberately wants to create an atmosphere of violence across India and particularly in universities. There should be an inquiry against them."

The minister has also demanded an inquiry on who were creating hurdles in semester exam registration at JNU by lockdown of the server room. Recently JNU went into a lockdown following which Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar blamed it on 10-15 people and had warned of filing a police complaint against them.

Interestingly, a video too has surfaced where students allegedly belonging to the Left unions are seen to be purportedly beating up students who appear to belong to ABVP during the admission process. This is believed to be the trigger for Sunday's violence.

-with inputs from IANS