'Proud to be a democracy': MEA responds to Norwegian press that PM Modi is not taking questions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Norway as part of his 5-nation European tour has sparked controversy over lack of media interaction.

As Prime Minister Modi issued a joint press statement with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Stør in Oslo on Monday, journalists from the “world’s freest press” criticized the Indian prime minister for not asking questions. This also extended to the MEA press on the Prime Minister’s visit later, where Indian officials faced questions about “trust” and “human rights”.

Helle Lyng, a columnist in a Norwegian newspaper, wrote in a post on social media platform X: “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not accept my question, I did not expect that. She said:

“Norway ranks first in the World Press Freedom Index, India is 157th and competes with Palestine, the Emirates and Cuba. Our job is to question the powers we work with,” the journalist captioned the video.

Later, the Indian Embassy in Norway responded to her post and invited her to a press conference on Prime Minister Modi’s visit. The post read: “The Embassy is holding a press conference for the Prime Minister’s visit tonight at 9.30pm at the Raddisson BluPlaza Hotel. You are most welcome to ask your questions there.”

A tense exchange in the MEA press

At a press conference, officials from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) asked the Norwegian press.

Lyng was present at the press conference and asked, “Why should we trust you? Can you promise to stop the human rights abuses going on in your country? Will the Prime Minister start taking critical questions from the Indian press?”

In response, MEA (West) Minister Sibi George stated “what is India”. As George listed everything that came from India, it was obvious that he was asking someone to answer the question without interruption. “Please don’t interrupt me,” said a visibly angry George.

George then insisted: “We’ve heard a lot of people asking why this, why that, but let me tell you this. We’re one-sixth of the world’s population, but not one-sixth of the world’s problems. We have a constitution that guarantees people’s basic rights. We have equal rights for women in our country, which is very important.”

“We believe in equality; We believe in human rights. If someone whose rights are violated, they have the right to go to court. We are proud to be a democracy,” he added.

The MEA secretary said that people do not understand the vast reach of the Indian media ecosystem and make statements after reading some reports published by “ignorant NGOs”.

“You know how many stories are up here. At least 200 TV channels in Delhi alone, in English, Hindi and many languages. People don’t understand the extent of India. They read one or two reports published by some godforsaken, ignorant NGOs and then they come and ask,” he said.

Asked about PM Modi not taking questions from journalists, George said that as the country in charge of the visit, it was his duty to address the media.

“I’ve been doing it and I’ll continue to do it,” George said.

Lyng, meanwhile, said in another post that she and her colleague “tried several times to get them to be specific about human rights, but I failed.”