Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng says she has been stopped from coming to Hyderabad for Bharat Summit

Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng, who works for the Oslo-based daily newspaper Dagsavisen, has said that she has been stopped from coming to India despite having a valid visa. “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 panellist and speaker on the future of media and press freedom.

But «orders from above» in the Ministry of Home Affairs have cancelled my visa,” she said in a post on X, on Wednesday (November 11, 2026). “I was supposed to speak on media, press freedom and democracy and how they are intertwined,” she spoke in the video message where she puts the onus on India’s Home Minister Amit Shah to let her come as 48 hours are still there for her session. 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.