“Why are Modi and his govt so afraid of questions?” the Indian National Congress wrote on X after Norwegian commentator Helle Lyng Svendsen lost her Indian visa on Wednesday, November 11, just ten minutes before she planned to leave for the airport.
Svendsen was scheduled to fly to Hyderabad to speak on a panel about “The Future of Media” at the Bharat Summit on November 14, The Times of India reported. Her visa was revoked on “orders from above” inside the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, she stated in a video message.
The conference in Hyderabad, organized by the Telangana Congress government, faced sudden travel blocks affecting 113 of 315 foreign delegates cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs, according to The Wire.
The travel bar follows an incident on May 18 in Oslo, Norway, when Svendsen questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a joint media appearance with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Svendsen asked why Modi did not take questions from journalists.
“I’m thinking maybe it has something to do with the fact that I used my freedom of press back in May 2026 to question the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, here in Oslo, Norway,” Svendsen said, according to Telegraph India. She has also criticized Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani in columns for the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen.
Opposition parties and press freedom advocates condemned the abrupt visa cancellation. Supriya Shrinate, digital and social media head for the Congress, said that the move demonstrated a profound disdain for free expression. The Indian government is seemingly scared of a journalist just because she posed a question to Mr Modi that explains to you their disdain for the free press, Shrinate told Telegraph India.
Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose reacted strongly on X, calling the action outrageous and arguing that the regime cannot handle unscripted queries.
Meanwhile, the Editors Guild of India issued a joint statement signed by president Sanjay Kapoor and general secretary Raghavan Srinivasan, demanding that the government disclose the reasons for the cancellation and reverse it, The New Indian Express reported. “It is also a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution under Article 19(1)(a),” the Editors Guild said in a statement.
Organizers said that 113 of 315 speakers cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs were denied entry after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs retrospectively revoked their conference visas.
According to government clearance guidelines cited by summit sources, political clearance is required for foreign visitors discussing South Asia, national security, or Kashmir.
The Indian embassy in Oslo informed Svendsen that her visa was no longer valid for travel, but did not provide a written explanation for the decision, apologizing only for the inconvenience.
Worth a look