India has cancelled the visa of Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng just hours before her scheduled flight from Oslo to Hyderabad, preventing her from attending an international summit organised by the Telangana government, Bloomberg and The Wire report.
Lyng was due to travel to India on Wednesday to participate in the Bharat Summit, scheduled for November 12-14, where she was set to speak on a panel titled ‘The Future of Media’.
She held a valid single-entry visa covering the duration of the event. However, shortly before leaving for the airport, she received a phone call from the Indian Embassy in Norway informing her that her visa had been cancelled and she would not be allowed to travel to India. She was subsequently asked to visit the embassy in person to have the visa physically cancelled.
“This is shocking, madness. I have political clearance and a visa because of the political clearance, but it appears that the Department of Home Affairs [Ministry of Home Affairs] have decided that I am not allowed to enter,” Lyng told The Wire on Thursday.
She said she struggled to understand why the Home Ministry was involved in her case, as she was travelling to India only for a conference.
The political clearance she referred to had been granted by India's Ministry of External Affairs, which approved the participation of foreign nationals in the Bharat Summit on November 3. However, the clearance letter stipulated that participation was subject to approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs and other relevant authorities.
Pushparaj Deshpande, one of the organisers of the summit, expressed disappointment over Lyng's absence in a post on X, saying it was unfortunate that she would be unable to attend.
He also criticised the Narendra Modi government, referring to India's image as the "mother of democracy".
The Wire said it had contacted both the external affairs and home ministries seeking an explanation for the visa cancellation. The report said it would be updated if the authorities responded.
Lyng drew attention in India in May when she questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Oslo, asking why he did not take questions from journalists.
After Modi and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store delivered a joint press statement, Lyng asked the Indian prime minister: "Why don't you take some questions from the freest press in the world?" Modi left without responding.
She later questioned Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Sibi George about Modi's refusal to answer journalists' questions, as well as alleged human rights violations in India. George cited the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues, in his response.
On Wednesday, Lyng released a video message addressed to Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking an explanation for the last-minute cancellation of her visa.
In the video, she suggested that the decision might be linked to her questioning of Modi in Oslo in May 2026 and her criticism of the Indian government.
She also raised the possibility that her questions about influential Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani had contributed to the decision.
Lyng told The Wire that she was disappointed as the trip would have been her first visit to India.
She said some Indian journalist colleagues had suggested that the cancellation might be linked to Modi's alleged unwillingness to forget criticism, adding that she could not understand what the authorities expected to achieve by preventing her visit.