The Ministry of External Affairs has defended its visa decisions as a sovereign matter, responding to allegations that 115 foreign speakers were denied permission to attend a Congress party event. Reports indicate that more than 100 of them were either denied entry or had their visas revoked, and the government has not publicly set out the reasons for each individual decision.
The controversy centres on the Bharat Summit, the Congress-linked gathering to which the foreign speakers had been invited. Critics have alleged that the denials targeted participants expected to speak on political themes. The ministry's position, as reported, is that the grant or refusal of a visa rests with the Indian state and is not open to challenge on the basis of the event's sponsorship. Its specific reasons for individual denials remain unclear from the material available.
One case has drawn particular attention. Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng had her visa cancelled, and her cancellation was linked in reports to her past interactions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ministry has not, in the reporting available, publicly connected her case to any stated security or legal ground. Nor is it confirmed whether all the denials were tied to the Congress event, so the link between Ms Lyng's case and the wider group of speakers rests on the reporting rather than on an official account.
The figure of 115 is the one cited in the coverage that prompted the ministry's response, and reports differ on the exact number of people affected. The ministry's statement signals that it will not treat individual visa outcomes as subject to public explanation. Visa matters for foreign nationals fall under the Ministry of External Affairs and the Bureau of Immigration, which together decide who may enter the country for conferences, lectures, media work and other purposes. Under Indian practice, a visa is discretionary, and the state is not obliged to give reasons for refusing one.
The episode has drawn reactions from opposition parties, which have pressed for transparency about how the decisions were taken and whether the criteria were applied uniformly. The government's answer, as reported, has been to frame visa policy as an exercise of national sovereignty rather than a matter for debate over individual cases. Whether the ministry will release further detail, or clarify how many of the denials were connected to the Congress gathering, has not been stated.
For foreign academics, journalists and commentators planning to attend events in India, the episode underlines that entry is discretionary and that a visa already granted can be cancelled. Those invited to speak at political or civil-society gatherings may now weigh that risk when accepting invitations, though the reporting does not show that any formal guidance has been issued to them.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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