“Prime Minister Modi, why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?” a journalist with the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen asked as the Indian leader was leaving the podium he and his Norwegian counterpart had addressed a joint press meet on Monday.
This question by Helle Lyng Svendsen has ignited a debate about the role of the press in a democracy – and put attention on the Indian prime minister’s refusal to address press conferences.
After Modi, who was on a five-nation tour of the United Arab Emirates and Europe, departed without acknowledging Svendsen’s query, she posted a video on social media, saying that she had not expected the Indian leader to take her question.
“Norway has the number one spot on the World Press Freedom Index, India is at 157th, competing with Palestine, Emirates and Cuba,” she said. “It is our job to question the powers we cooperate with.”
On social media, Bharatiya Janata Party supporters claimed that Svendsen had acted inappropriately. Some said that she had failed to understand that this was a “press briefing” and not a '“press conference” at which questions could be asked.
Others were more intemperate. Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s propaganda cell, characterised her question as a “delinquent journalist’s incoherent rant”. He suggested that she had asked it because she did “not want to see a strong and powerful India”.
Businessman Mohandas Pai, a loud BJP supporter on social media, claimed that Svendsen was “a racist white supremchist masquerading as a journalist, boorish, loud, dumb”
India, he said, “has more than 2,000 newspapers, 460+ TV channels who are everyday criticising the govt. we may have more ‘journalists’ than your whole population. A stooge of George Soros, paid poorly too points fingers.”
Some accused her of being a spy.
Modi’s opponents saw this as just another instance of the prime minister’s evasions. Since he came to power in 2014, Modi has avoided press conferences, both at home and abroad. He had taken unscripted questions from reporters at media meets only twice: in the UK in 2015 and in the US in 2023.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Modi’s response had undermined the country’s image. “When there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear,” he said on X. “What happens to India’s image when the world sees a compromised PM panic and run from a few questions?”
Svendsen, on her part, refused to give up. She followed Modi out of the room to try to get a response.
“Tried to ask PM Modi a question on the way to the elevator [too], but the closing doors stopped me,” she wrote on X. “What I was wondering was whether he thinks he deserves the trust of the Nordic countries given his human rights violations and his restrictions on press freedom.”
Svendsen explained on X later: “In Norway, when foreign leaders visit. The press usually will get to ask questions. Not many, but a few. That was not the case today with Modi, and will not be tomorrow either.”
Shortly after, the Indian embassy in Norway told Svendsen that it was organising a press conference later on Monday night. “You are most welcome to come and ask your questions there,” it said on X, ignoring her question about whether she would be able to interview Modi there.
The event turned out to be slightly farcical. Svendsen asked why Oslo should trust New Delhi. She also asked if it could be promised that “human rights violations that go on in your country” would be stopped and “will the prime minister start taking critical questions from the Indian press at some point in the future”.
In response, Sibi George, the Ministry of External Affairs’ secretary (West), spoke for 13 minutes, without specifically answering Lyng’s question.
Offering what he claimed was a background for why the world should trust India, he said that India is a “civilisational country that is 5,000 years old” and has “something unique that it has offered to the world and continues to”. The numeral zero had originated in India, he said, as also yoga.
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