Norwegian journalist alleges embassy stopped her from travelling to India, cancelled visa

Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen on Wednesday alleged that the Indian embassy in Oslo stopped her from travelling to India for a conference and cancelled her visa.

Svendsen said that 10 minutes before she left for the airport, the embassy asked her not to travel.

The journalist said that she had received political clearance, a visa and was supposed to speak at the Bharat Summit on the future of media and press freedom. “But «orders from above» in the Ministry of Home Affairs have cancelled my visa,” she alleged on social media.

Svendsen, who works at the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen, said that she had not been given a reason. She alleged that “apparently” it was the home ministry that decided that she cannot enter India. “And I don’t understand why, but it does feel politically motivated,” she alleged.

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I used my freedom of press back in May 2026 to question the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, here in Oslo, Norway,” she said in a video addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Svendsen added: “I’m thinking it might also be because I’ve used my freedom of expression to criticise Narendra Modi and his governance both in public opinion pieces from my Norwegian...

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