India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar lambasted foreign media for using such highly charged phrases as "Hindu nationalist" to describe the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
"If you read foreign newspapers, they use words such as 'Hindu nationalist' government. In America or Europe, they won't say Christian nationalist... these adjectives are reserved for us," Jaishankar said at a public event in Maharashtra state's Pune city.
"So next time you read it, ask yourself, how wrongly are they reading us as they clearly do not understand that we are preparing to be more - not less - involved with the world," he added.
Jaishankar's strong criticism of foreign media come after a two-part BBC series on PM Modi named 'The Modi Question' triggered a massive political row in the South Asian country.
Although the Indian government has banned the film from being screened in India and authorities are trying to block it from being shared online, Congress and other opposition parties have been screening it in states where the BJP is not in power.
Although the Indian government has banned the film from being screened in India and authorities are trying to block it from being shared online, Congress and other opposition parties have been screening it in states where the BJP is not in power.
Modi speaking during 2023 Pariksha Pe Charcha
© Photo : Twitter/ @Sunil_Deodhar
India's Foreign Ministry had previously dubbed the BBC series on Modi a "propaganda piece", adding that it reflected a "colonial mindset".
"We think this is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, the lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset, is blatantly visible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said last week.