The incident has become a fresh flashpoint over press freedom, visa powers and the Indian government’s treatment of critical foreign journalists
NEW DELHI — Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen says she was stopped from travelling to India on Wednesday (November 11), despite holding a valid visa and political clearance, just minutes before she was due to leave for the airport to speak at the November 13-14 Bharat Summit in Hyderabad.
The incident has turned a Congress-organised conference on media and democracy into a fresh flashpoint over press freedom, visa powers and the Indian government’s treatment of critical foreign journalists.
Svendsen works for the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen. She had been invited as a panellist and speaker on the future of media and press freedom at the Bharat Summit.
In a post on X on Wednesday, and in a video message addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, she said the Indian Embassy in Oslo contacted her around 10 minutes before she was scheduled to leave for the airport and told her she could not travel to India.
“I got a visa to India and was supposed to leave this morning to attend the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad. I had been invited as a panellist and speaker on the future of media and press freedom. But ‘orders from above’ in the Ministry of Home Affairs have cancelled my visa,” she wrote.
Svendsen said she had received political clearance, a visa and an invitation, and had not been given a reason for the reversal.
She added two further details that were not in the first reports:
Embassy officials asked her to visit their office to have her visa physically revoked. She said she refused and requested a written explanation, which she has not received.
She distinguished between the embassy staff and the decision itself, saying: “They were truly nice and helpful during the process. It is the Ministry of Home Affairs that has ruined the trip by denying me entry even though I have gotten a visa and had political clearance for the conference.”
As of the time of reporting, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Norway had not publicly responded to her allegations.
Why She Thinks She Was Targeted
Svendsen said she did not know the exact reason, but described the decision as feeling “politically motivated.”
In her video, she listed several possible triggers:
1. Questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oslo
“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I used my freedom of the press back in May 2026 to question the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, here in Oslo, Norway,” she said.
2. Critical opinion pieces on Modi’s governance
She said she had used her freedom of expression to criticise Modi and his governance “both in public opinion pieces from my Norwegian newspaper, but also online for the Indian people to see.”
3. Criticism of Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani
She said she was wondering whether her criticism of “Adani and Ambani, two of Narendra Modi’s alleged close friends, both very rich, the powerful billionaires of India and Asia… may also have something to do with this.”
4. Positive coverage of the Cockroach Janta Party
She also asked whether her “positive opinion pieces” about the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) political campaign and her interview with its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, “might be the reason why I’m not allowed” to enter India.
All four are her suggestions, not a stated reason by the Indian government. No official explanation has been given, so none of them can be confirmed as the cause.
The May 18 Exchange in Oslo
Svendsen came to prominence in India on May 18, 2026, during Modi’s visit to Oslo for the India-Nordic summit.
After Modi and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre read out a joint press statement, Modi began leaving the podium. Svendsen called out:
“Prime Minister Modi, why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?”
Modi walked away without answering.
The moment triggered a debate in India over press freedom and the prime minister’s record on taking questions. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has avoided press conferences, both at home and abroad. He has taken unscripted questions from reporters at media meets only twice: in the United Kingdom in 2015 and in the United States in 2023.
Supporters of the BJP argued that the Oslo event was a press briefing, not a press conference, and that Svendsen had acted inappropriately. Amit Malviya, who headed the BJP’s publicity cell at the time, described her question as a “delinquent journalist’s incoherent rant” and suggested she did not want to see “a strong and powerful India.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised Modi’s response, saying it had undermined India’s image.
At a subsequent press interaction organised by the Indian Embassy that day, Svendsen again raised questions about human rights and whether Modi would take critical questions from Indian journalists. An External Affairs Ministry official spoke for 13 minutes without directly answering her question, offering a broad account of India as a “civilisational country that is 5,000 years old.” When Svendsen said he was not answering, the official said it was his press conference and asked her not to interrupt.
What is the Bharat Summit?
The Bharat Summit is being organised for the second consecutive year under the leadership of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Congress Foreign Cell head Salman Khurshid. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Reddy were expected to address the valedictory session on November 14.
Organisers describe it as a Congress-led international forum presenting the party’s perspective on social justice, democracy, development and foreign policy. The BJP in Telangana has criticised it as a use of public money for Rahul Gandhi’s PR, a charge the Congress rejects.
According to organisers, more than 1,000 participants in total, including elected representatives, policymakers, academics and civil society representatives, are expected to attend the event which will also be attended by about 200 international delegates.
Political clearance had been obtained from the Ministry of External Affairs for 316 foreign delegates.
That last point is important context for Svendsen’s case: she says she was among those who had already cleared the political-clearance stage, which is normally the main hurdle for foreign participants at a politically sensitive event in India.
Bharat Summit organiser Pushparaj Deshpande expressed disappointment: “It’s deeply unfortunate that Ms Helle Lyng Svendsen will be unable to join us at the Bharat Summit. This is what the ‘mother of democracy’ looks like in PM Modi-HM Shah Raj,” he wrote on X.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra criticised the government’s handling of the incident, saying it was shameful to grant Svendsen a visa and then prevent her from travelling.
“Imagine if Norway had done this to any of us?” she wrote, urging India’s Ambassador to Norway, Gloria Gangte, to formally raise the matter with the government.
The organisers said they were focused on ensuring the summit went ahead smoothly “in keeping with Rahul Gandhi’s vision.”
A Wider Pattern
Svendsen’s case is not the first involving a foreign journalist and Indian visa powers.
In 2024, three foreign journalists left India after permits or visa extensions were refused or threatened:
Vanessa Dougnac, a French journalist who had worked in India for more than two decades, left in February 2024 after the Home Ministry asked why her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card should not be withdrawn for alleged “malicious” reporting. She was later issued a one-year permit to resume work.
Avani Dias, then South Asia bureau chief for Australian Broadcasting Corporation, left in April 2024 after she was told her routine journalist visa extension would be denied. She said officials told her a recent episode of her reporting had “crossed a line.”
Sébastien Farcis, also French, left in June 2024 after almost 13 years in India, citing denial of a work permit.
The Procedure for Journalists
In India, journalist visas and the Foreigners Registration Office process operate under the Home Ministry, which gives the MHA — not the MEA — the final say on entry for journalists, even after an embassy has issued a visa.
India ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, falling six places from 151st in 2025, according to reports citing the index.
Svendsen said her panel was still at least two days away and she still hoped the Indian government would reconsider.
“The ball is now in your court,” she said. “What will the world’s largest democracy do? Will I be able to enter the country, or will I not when I have political clearance, a visa and my passport, a place to be and, most importantly, people from the international environment and India waiting and expecting me to be there?”
The Indian government has not publicly responded to her claims.
That silence leaves three unanswered questions: Was the visa cancelled, revoked, or was she simply told not to board — and on what legal basis? And why was the decision taken after political clearance and visa issuance, rather than before? The last but crucial is: Will the government provide any written explanation Svendsen says she requested?
