The gagging of the Indian media is now normalised after 12 years of a government obsessed with evading questions, either outrightly denying data, or not making data accessible. It is capped by zero press conferences by the prime minister – a first in independent India.But there are moments when it gets shown up starkly, breaking the fever. This often happens in a particular context – in democracies with a press willing to push the envelope.A woman journalist, Helle Lyng, a commentator in the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen, attempted to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi questions which he and his entourage no doubt heard, but then went on to disregard completely. For a PM who has yet to address a single press conference in his near 13 years in the top job, answering Lyng would have been unthinkable. This, despite the fact that he is projected as a wildly popular leader and is arguably one who assumes and returns to power with the people’s mandate.Lyng said she asked questions as “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.”Later, Lyng was invited by the Indian embassy – publicly on social media – to a presser by diplomats, a far different deal than a presser with the PM. She attended it and when she asked why Norway should trust India given its human rights situation, she was told, incredibly, that India is the land of yoga, has handled COVID well, and exports vaccines and medicines. In his long reply, the diplomat did not answer Lyng’s second question, “Will the prime minister start taking critical questions from the Indian press at some point in the future?”Why does this matter?Modi’s inability and unwillingness to adhere to ordinary tasks, like speaking to the press along with another head of government, have now settled in as the norm in India, as there are anyway zero opportunities to question the prime minister. ‘Photo-ops’ are choreographed to the hilt, but audio is lost. The diplomat mentioned in response to Lyng’s question that India hosted the G20. But here too, the irony was stark as a routine questioning opportunity, a “pool spray”, was denied to US journalists as Modi hosted then US President Biden at his home. This underlines how out of line India’s media environment is with what is expected, and India says it stands for when its spokesperson abroad uses the phrase “vibrant democracy”.If there are no questions from members of the press, eventually, there will be fewer and fewer avenues to get information, make sense of goings on and articulate concerns, misgivings and raise issues. Democracy is not about voting once and then being asked to zip it. It is an ongoing affair, expected to last through any government’s tenure. The press is understood to be the cable, or the vehicle for those questions to the highest offices of the land. It is the ‘media’. It must be allowed to do its job.To take questions (even if not answer them) would underline and ensure that the PM, running such a centralised government, remains accountable. Till as recently as in the Bengal elections, he said the vote cast was directly for him. Enjoy power? Then with that comes great responsibility, to quote Spiderman. The PM’s discomfiture with being questioned is because it sits uneasily with his claims of being “non-biological” or his post being divine. Questions are about the here and now. Not being available for those, means wanting to be above the fray.What is a democracy without being able to seek ‘diagonal accountability’? The Executive is accountable to Parliament directly, but accountable to a swathe of independent institutions in a healthy democracy – including the media, which must also step up and ask questions of it. Being denied that means allowing the Executive a free run.Not asking for a press conference, just fawning amplification of the government’s “talking points”, is the job of those who speak on behalf of the government. Not the media. Lyng is spot on when she says, “Journalism is sometimes confrontational. We seek answers. If any interview subject, especially with power, do not answer what I asked, I will try to interrupt and get a more focused response. That is my job & duty. I want answers and not just talking points.” If there is only propaganda laundered by the press, how will citizens make an informed choice? If citizens are not to be turned into sheep or put on mute forever, questions are key. PMs and governments must take them. That includes ours.Lastly, how Lyng is being trolled, personally, by government supporters and enablers of zero press conferences is a case of QED or quod erat demonstrandum. The online hounding Lyng is facing has happened before in 2023, in the case of the lone American woman journalist who asked Modi of his government’s treatment of minorities. The White House had to step up to defend her after attacks mounted by India’s now infamous, crude and lewd trolls. That alone established the serious problems with India’s public sphere. Trolls aren’t just trolls here, several patronised and ‘followed’ by some of our tallest leaders, their stance chiming with several elected representatives – that is the problem.It does not help that Norway is rated number 1 on the World Press Freedom Index and India is at 157, of 180 countries.