Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen has alleged that the Indian Embassy in Oslo stopped her from travelling to India and cancelled her visa just minutes before she was due to leave for the airport to attend the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad.
Svendsen, who works for the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen, said she had received an Indian visa and political clearance for the visit. She was invited to speak at the Congress-organised summit on the future of media, press freedom and democracy.
In a post on X on Wednesday, November 11, Svendsen said the embassy 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.
She alleged that the decision had come from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), but said she had not been given an explanation. The Ministry of External Affairs, the MHA and the Indian Embassy in Norway had not responded to her allegations at the time of reporting.
Journalist Suspects Link to Criticism of Modi
In a video message addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Svendsen questioned why she had been stopped from entering India despite having the required clearances.
She suggested that the decision could be linked to her questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Oslo in May 2026, as well as her published criticism of his government.
“I’m thinking 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.
She also wondered whether her criticism of industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, whom she described as close to Modi, had played a role.
Svendsen further referred to her positive articles about the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and an interview with its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, as possible reasons for the alleged restriction.
She described the decision as potentially politically motivated but said she did not know the exact reason for it.
Previous Exchange With Modi in Oslo
The latest allegations come months after Svendsen questioned Modi during a joint press interaction with his Norwegian counterpart on May 18.
As Modi was leaving the podium, she asked why he did not take questions from journalists, saying: “Why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?”
The exchange triggered a debate over press freedom and the role of journalists in a democracy. Some BJP supporters criticised Svendsen, arguing that the event was a press briefing rather than a press conference. Amit Malviya, who headed the BJP’s publicity cell at the time, described her question as a “delinquent journalist’s incoherent rant”.
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, Svendsen again raised questions about human rights and whether Modi would take critical questions from Indian journalists. An External Affairs Ministry official responded with a broad account of India’s history and civilisational heritage but did not directly address her questions.
Bharat Summit Scheduled for November 13 and 14
The Bharat Summit, organised by the Congress, is scheduled to take place on November 13 and 14 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre’s HITEX venue.
The event is being organised under the leadership of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Congress Foreign Cell head Salman Khurshid. More than 1,000 participants, including elected representatives, policymakers and intellectuals from over 70 countries, are expected to attend, according to the event organisers.
Svendsen said she still hoped to reach Hyderabad in time for her scheduled appearance and urged the Indian government to reconsider the decision.
“The ball is now in your court,” she said, asking whether she would be allowed to enter India despite having a visa, political clearance and an invitation to the summit.
The Indian government has not publicly responded to her claims.
