Norwegian press bodies ask if journalist’s India visa revoked over criticism of PM Modi

· Scroll

Two Norwegian press associations on Friday asked the Indian embassy in Oslo if its decision to revoke the visa of journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen moments before she was scheduled to depart for Hyderabad was linked to her criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Svendsen had said on Thursday that she was not given an official reason for the cancellation of her visa. In an interview to Scroll, she said she was told that the decision had come “on orders from above”.

The Norwegian journalist was scheduled to attend the Bharat Summit in Telangana as a delegate. The event was organised by the Congress-led state government.

Svendsen had sparked a debate in May when she questioned Modi about his reluctance to take questions from journalists during his visit to Norway. She works for the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen.

In their letter on Friday, the Association of Norwegian Editors and the Norwegian Press Association said that it was “legitimate to ask whether the revocation of her journalist visa is connected to the critical questions she put to India’s prime minister”.