From Questioning PM Modi In Oslo To Visa Cancellation: Who Is Norwegian Journalist Helle Lyng?

On 11 November, Helle Lyng posted a video on X addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying she had been looking forward to visiting the world's largest democracy for the first time. Her bags were packed, and she already had a visa.

However, just minutes before she was due to leave for the airport, she says, she was informed that she could no longer travel to India. The video has reportedly garnered more than 11 million views. The episode marks the latest turn in a controversy that began in May, when Lyng questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Oslo.

A Commentator From A Small Newspaper

Before May, Lyng was not a familiar name among Indian readers. She is a commentator at Dagsavisen, an Oslo-based newspaper with a circulation of fewer than 14,000, and has also freelanced for several Norwegian publications.

According to Dagbladet, she is 28 and previously worked as Nettavisen's US correspondent. She joined Dagsavisen as a commentator only earlier in May. Her time in the US, she told Dagbladet, had made her accustomed to harsh reactions from political fan communities.

The Question In Oslo

On 18 May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Oslo on a five-nation tour. After a joint press interaction with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Lyng called out across the room: "Prime Minister Modi, why don't you take some questions from the freest press in the world?" Modi did not respond and left with the accompanying dignitaries.

Lyng has said she did not expect an answer. In Norway, she has argued, visiting leaders are usually asked a few questions by the press. The question landed on the sensitive point that Modi has not addressed a formal press conference in his years as Prime Minister.

Reporters Without Borders ranks India 157th of 180 countries in its press freedom index, down from 151st the previous year, while Norway has held the top spot for a decade.

Lyng was later invited to a briefing by Indian officials. There she asked MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George about Modi's refusal to take questions and about India's human rights record.

She also asked whether the Prime Minister would ever take critical questions from the Indian press. According to The Wire's account of the briefing, the answer cited India's yoga tradition, its handling of COVID and its exports of vaccines and medicines, and did not address that last question.

The Backlash

The reaction in India was swift and hostile. Allegations that she was a "foreign plant", a "spy" and even a "Chinese proxy" poured into her social media profile. Lyng answered that Dagsavisen is her only employer and that she is not paid by Pakistan, China or anyone else.

Dagbladet reported that she gained over a hundred thousand new followers within days, but also received threats, deepfakes and rape threats.

In an interview with Outlook, Lyng said she felt unfairly targeted by a section of the Indian media. She added that she was grateful the question had grown into a debate in India and beyond.

A Visa Issued, Then Cancelled

Lyng was invited to speak at the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad, hosted by the Telangana government and linked to the Congress party. She was listed for Day 2, 14 November, on a panel on the future of media.

The other panellists were Leonard Novy of the Institute for Media and Communications, Sangeeta Baruah Pisharoty, president of the Press Club of India, and Francesco Lapenta of the Institute of Future and Innovation Studies. The session was to be moderated by Pawan Khera, MP and chairperson of INC Communications.

She held a single-entry visa covering the event, and the Ministry of External Affairs had approved foreign participants' political clearance on 3 November. Lyng says the Indian embassy in Norway phoned her about ten minutes before she was due to leave for the airport.

She says it told her she could not travel, and that she was then asked to come to the embassy so the visa could be physically cancelled, to which she declined, as per her.

Lyng in her video appeal to Home Minister Amit Shah, noted that about 48 hours remained before her session, so there was still time for her to reach Hyderabad if the decision were reversed.

She has also suggested possible reasons. These include her Oslo question, her Dagsavisen opinion pieces on Modi's government, and her writing on industrialists Adani and Ambani. She also asked whether her positive coverage of the Cockroach Janta Party campaign might have played a part.