A Norwegian woman is threatening to eclipse footballer Erling Haaland this month as the most talked-about Norwegian in India.
Two months ago, in May, she was abused as a foreign spy and a silly woman, and showered with threats by Narendra Modi bhakts in India. Her crime? She dared to ask PM Narendra Modi, who was visiting Oslo for the India-Nordic summit, a question on press freedom and human rights. “Mr Prime Minister,” she asked, “why wouldn’t you take a question from the freest press in the world?”, alluding to the Press Freedom Index, which ranks Norway number one and India 157th out of 180 countries.
The prime minister ignored her and left the venue without answering. India’s Ministry of External Affairs invited her to a briefing the same day, along with other journalists, and lectured them on India and ancient Indian culture. The ‘incident’ grabbed international headlines and went viral online.
Now, Helle Lyng Svendson seems to be having the last laugh. Her social media feed shows that she has been relentlessly following the ‘news’ in India as well as PM Modi, drawing her own conclusions about the PM, Opposition leaders, Union ministers, the state of education, roads, cities, and even Indian media.
Her posts, complete with relevant photographs, have gone unnoticed in India, and we publish this summary with some regret, because it is safe to assume that, once alerted, the Indian government will soon ensure that her posts are blocked from viewing in India, which would be a pity.
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