Oslo: Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng has alleged that her Indian visa was cancelled at the last minute, just minutes before she was due to leave for the airport in Norway to attend the Congress-organised Bharat Summit in Hyderabad, where she was invited to speak on media, press freedom and democracy.
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. Here is my message for @AmitShah
In a post on X, Lyng claimed that despite having received an Indian visa and political clearance for her visit, the Indian Embassy in Norway informed her that she would not be allowed to travel to India. She attributed the decision to "orders from above" in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
"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 wrote.
In a video accompanying the post, Lyng said she received the communication barely 10 minutes before she was scheduled to leave for the airport.
She said she had been looking forward to her first visit to India and was confused by the decision, having already secured the necessary clearances and received an invitation to the Hyderabad event.
The journalist directly addressed Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging that the decision had originated from his ministry and appealing to him to reconsider it.
Lyng suggested that the move could be linked to her previous criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and her reporting and opinion pieces questioning the Indian government's policies.
The journalist had confronted Modi during his visit to Oslo on May 18, 2026, when he attended a joint press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Despite the leaders having indicated that they would not take questions from the media, Lyng called out to Modi as he was leaving the stage, asking: "Prime Minister Modi, why don't you take some questions from the freest press in the world?"
Primeminister of India, Narendra Modi, would not take my question, I was not expecting him to. Norway has the number one spot on the World Press Freedom Index, India is at 157th, competing with Palestine, Emirates & Cuba. It is our job to question the powers we cooperate with.
Modi left without responding to her question. Later, during a press conference by Indian diplomats, Lyng questioned India's human rights record and asked, "Why should we trust you (India)? Can you try to stop the human rights violations that goes on in your country?", BBC reported.
Lyng suggested that her questions to Modi and her subsequent criticism of his governance in Norwegian newspaper opinion pieces and online could have contributed to the alleged visa cancellation.
She said there was still time for the authorities to reconsider the decision, as her scheduled appearance at the Bharat Summit was 48 hours away. She appealed to Shah to allow her to travel to Hyderabad.
A response from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to Lyng's allegations is awaited.
The Bharat Summit, organised by the Congress, is scheduled to be held on November 13 and 14 at HITEX in Hyderabad. The event is being organised for the second consecutive year under the leadership of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Congress Foreign Cell head Salman Khurshid.
More than 1,000 participants, including elected representatives, policymakers and intellectuals from over 70 countries, have confirmed their participation in the summit.
(With agency inputs from ANI)