Online Desk: Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor has stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government blocked 115 of the 315 speakers invited to the two-day “Bharat Summit” in Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, from travelling to India and cancelled their visas.
Shashi Tharoor noted that the action was taken on the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs, even though the Ministry of External Affairs had already granted approval for these speakers to participate.
The conference began on Friday, with Saturday marking its final day. It was organized by the Congress-led government of Telangana. The event was intended to feature discussions on various topics, including democracy, social justice, climate change, gender equality and foreign policy.
Writing on social media, Shashi Tharoor questioned under which legal provision the government had taken such a drastic step. Expressing regret, he remarked that a democratic nation had become so insecure that it felt compelled to suppress voices from which it feared criticism.
The issue came to light when Norwegian journalist Helle Løvseth Sundnes revealed two days ago that the Indian embassy had prevented her from travelling to India for the conference and cancelled her visa. She stated that, at the airport, just ten minutes before her scheduled departure, the embassy instructed her not to travel. She also said that her visa had been cancelled on the orders of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs.
It is worth noting that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Norway in May this year, Helle Løvseth Sundnes had asked him at a joint press conference why he did not respond to questions from journalists representing some of the world’s freest press. The journalist asserted that she was targeted as a consequence of asking this question.