Last Updated on November 12, 2026 3:21 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
AMN / HYDERABAD
Norwegian journalist who questioned Prime Minister Narender Modi during his visit to her country has claimed that India has barred her from attending Bharat Summit in Hyderabad despite issuing visa.
Helle Lyng Svendsen was due tospeak about press freedom at the Bharat Summit. She says she had political clearance, a visa in her passport and her bags packed. Ten minutes before she was due to leave for the airport, she says, the Indian Embassy in Norway called to tell her she would be denied entry to India.
Svendsen said the decision came from India’s Ministry of Home Affairs. She appealed directly to
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying there was still time for her to catch a flight and take her
seat on the panel. “So the ball is now in your court. What will the world’s largest democracy do?”
Svendsen questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Oslo in May. In the video,
she said the decision “does feel politically motivated” and asked whether her questions to Modi,
her criticism of his government or her coverage of the Cockroach Janta Party and interview with Abhijit Dipke had played a role. The grounds for the decision have yet to be independently established.
Liberal and progressive representatives from around the world will converge in Hyderabad on
13–14 November for the Bharat Summit to discuss democracy, economic policy and shared
global challenges. Svendsen’s planned panel was about the relationship between a free press
and a functioning democracy.
The journalist said it was at least two days until her panel discussion at the event in Hyderabad and that she is hoping the Indian government would reconsider its decision. “…The ball is now in your court,” she said.