Norwegian journalist who questioned Modi says India cancelled her visa

Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen says India cancelled her visa about 10 minutes before she left for the airport to attend the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad. Lyng, who works for the Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen, was due to speak on the future of media and press freedom. She is the journalist who asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oslo in May why he does not take questions from the press. The government has not given a reason for the cancellation.

Lyng made the claim in a video on X on Wednesday (11 November). “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 panelist 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 said. She said the Indian embassy in Norway called her as she was leaving for the airport and told her she could not go to India that day, adding that she had a visa and political clearance.

She said she had not been given a reason, and that it “does feel politically motivated”. Lyng wondered whether it was linked to the question she put to Modi in Oslo in May 2026, and whether her positive opinion pieces on the Cockroach Janta Party campaign and her interview with its founder Abhijeet Dipke could be behind it. These are her own suggestions; no official reason has been given. She said the Indian embassy in Norway was “not at fault” and blamed the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Bharat Summit is a two-day event in Hyderabad on 13 and 14 November, which Scroll describes as organised by the Congress-led Telangana government. Lyng was listed as a speaker on 14 November in a session moderated by Congress MP Pawan Khera. The Hindu reported that it has seen documents showing a visa was first granted and later revoked. The Ministry of External Affairs declined to respond to The Hindu.

The Editors Guild of India said on Thursday (12 November) that it was deeply concerned by the last-minute cancellation. It asked the government to disclose its reasons and to reverse the decision. The Wire reported that around 113 of the 315 speakers cleared by the MEA for the summit were denied entry, quoting sources close to the organisers who said some visas were revoked later by the home ministry. The government has not commented on that claim.