Another sharp exchange occurred between the Ministry of External Affairs secretary, Sibi George, and a journalist, this time in Norway, after a reporter questioned India’s press freedom and human rights violations.
Journalists in Norway began to question why the prime minister of India was not taking questions from the “freest press in the world”
They asked why the world should trust India on issues related to democracy and human rights,
George asked the journalist not to interrupt him and explained that India’s constitutional framework guaranteed equal rights and legal remedies to all citizens.
“We hear a lot of people asking why this, why that, but let me tell you this. We are one-sixth of the total population of the world, but not one-sixth of the problems of the world. We have a constitution which guarantees the fundamental rights of the people. We have equal rights for the women of our country, which is very important,” he said.
“In 1947, we gave the freedom to vote for our women. We won the freedom together, and they won itself. Many countries I know, the voting right for women came after several decades after India gave that freedom,” he said.
“And what is the best example of human rights? The right to change government, the right to vote. And that is what is happening in India. We are so proud of that,” he added.
The MEA secretary also said that people don't understand that extensiveness of India's media ecosystem and made statements after reading reports by some “ignorant NGOs”
"You know how many stories are up here. We have how many breaking news stories coming every day in the evening. At least 200 TV channels in Delhi alone, in the English language, in Hindi language and multiple languages. People have no understanding of the scale of India. People have no understanding. They read, you know, one or two news reports published by some godforsaken, ignorant NGOs and then come and ask questions," he said.
He also went on to talk about India’s contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic and its historial legacy.
“You look around and you see an India connect everywhere in the world. India has the numbers you see on your phones. Shoonya, zero, originated in India. Chess originated in India,” he said.
A Norwegian newspaper commentator, Helle Lyng, shared later on X, “My colleague and I asked questions tonight both on why we should trust India given the human violations rights, and also about the visit. I tried multiple times to get them to be specific on human rights, but I was unsuccessful. The representatives talked about India’s effort during Covid & also yoga, among other things. My colleague has the videos so I will try to publish tomorrow.”
In a later post, Lyng clarified, “I never thought I would have to write this, but I am not a foreign spy of any sort, sent out by any foreign government,” she said in the post and asserted that her work is journalism, "primarily in Norway now".