New Delhi: Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng, who was all set to travel from Oslo to Hyderabad on Wednesday, had her Indian visa cancelled just hours before her flight. Lyng was travelling to participate in an event organised by the Telangana government from November 12 to 14, the ‘Bharat Summit’, speaking on a panel on ‘The Future of Media’.Lyng had a valid single-entry visa to attend the summit, lasting for the duration of the event. However, just as she was about to leave for the airport, she received a call from the Indian Embassy in Norway. She said she was told on the phone that her visa was cancelled and she could not travel to India. Subsequently, she was also asked to visit the embassy in person so that the visa could be physically cancelled.“This is shocking, madness. I have political clearance and a visa because of the political clearance, but it appears that the Department of Home Affairs [Ministry of Home Affairs] have decided that I am not allowed to enter. I struggle to understand why the Department of Home Affairs [Ministry of Home Affairs] is relevant in my case. I was supposed to go for a conference this weekend for a few days,” Lyng told The Wire on Thursday.The ‘political clearance’ Lyng refers to was granted by the Union Ministry of External Affairs, which had cleared the names of foreign nationals attending the Bharat Summit on November 3. The Ministry of External Affair’s clearance letter stated that one of the conditions for the clearance was “Clearance from Ministry of Home Affairs and other relevant authorities”.Pushparaj Deshpande, one of the organisers of the Bharat Summit, said on X, “It’s deeply unfortunate that Ms @HelleLyngSvends will be unable to join us at the @Bharat_Summit. This is what the “mother of democracy” looks like in PM Modi-HM Shah Raj.”The Wire has asked both the external affairs and home ministries about reasons for Lyng’s visa being cancelled. This article will be updated when a response is received.In May this year, Lyng made headlines in India when she asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he would take questions from the media during his trip to Oslo, and he walked away without answering her. “Prime Minister Modi, why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?” she has asked after Modi and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store read out a join press statement.She later questioned MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George on the matter, who cited the Modi government’s COVID-19 response, among other things, in response to her questions on alleged human rights violations in India and Modi’s decision to never take questions from journalists.Lyng released a video message on Wednesday addressed to Union home minister Amit Shah, asking why her visa was cancelled at the last moment. “I’m thinking that 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, adding that her criticisms of the Modi government are likely to have played her role, as has her questioning of powerful Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.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— Helle Lyng (@HelleLyngSvends) November 11, 2026Lyng expressed disappointment at her inability to travel to India on what was supposed to be her first trip to the country. “My journalist friends in India say it might be because Modi is a vengeful man who doesn’t forget easily. I just don’t understand what they are thinking. Did they think I would not write about this?” she told The Wire.