Norwegian journalist says India cancelled visa, stopped her from travelling for conference

Millat Times Desk

12 November 2026 (Publish: 08:41 AM IST)

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Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen has alleged that Indian authorities cancelled her visa shortly before she was due to travel to India to attend a conference in Hyderabad.

Svendsen said on Wednesday that the Indian embassy in Oslo contacted her about 10 minutes before she was due to leave for the airport and told her not to travel.

The journalist, who works for Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen, said she had obtained a visa and political clearance to attend the Congress-organised Bharat Summit, where she was scheduled to speak on the future of media and press freedom.

“Orders from above” in the Ministry of Home Affairs had resulted in the cancellation of her visa, she alleged in a social media post.

Svendsen said she had not been given any official explanation for the decision. She alleged that the Home Ministry had decided she could not enter India and suggested that the move might be politically motivated.

In a video addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, she questioned whether the decision was linked to her questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a joint press briefing with his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo on May 18.

During the event, Svendsen had asked Modi why he did not take questions from what she described as “the freest press in the world”.

She also suggested that her criticism of Modi and his government, including in opinion articles and social media posts, might have contributed to the decision. She further raised the possibility that her criticism of industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani was a factor.

Svendsen also questioned whether her positive articles about the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and an interview with its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, had played a role.

She said her panel discussion at the Hyderabad summit was still at least two days away and urged the Indian government to reconsider its decision.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian embassy in Oslo had not commented on her allegations.

The Bharat Summit is being organised by the Congress.

Svendsen’s latest allegations follow an exchange with Modi during his visit to Norway in May.

After the prime minister left the podium without responding to her question, the journalist said on social media that she had not expected him to answer.

The incident triggered criticism and support on social media. BJP supporters accused Svendsen of behaving inappropriately, arguing that the event was a press briefing rather than a press conference.

Amit Malviya, who then headed the BJP’s information technology cell, described her question as a “delinquent journalist’s incoherent rant”.

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, criticised Modi for not taking questions from journalists. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the prime minister’s response had damaged India’s image.

Modi has rarely taken unscripted questions from journalists since becoming prime minister in 2014. He took questions at media interactions in Britain in 2015 and the United States in 2023.

Following the Oslo incident, the Indian embassy told Svendsen it was organising a press conference later that day. However, it did not directly address her question about whether she would be allowed to interview Modi.

At the subsequent event, Svendsen asked an Indian official why Norway should trust New Delhi and whether human rights violations in India would be addressed. She also questioned whether Modi would begin taking critical questions from Indian journalists.

An external affairs ministry official spoke for about 13 minutes in response but did not directly address her questions. He described India as a 5,000-year-old civilisation and said it had something unique to offer the world.

When Svendsen pointed out that he had not answered her questions, the official told her not to interrupt, saying it was his press conference.