MEA’s Sibi George affirmed India’s civilisational legacy, its commitment to equality and human rights, and defended against skepticism about media freedom.

The lack of media interactions during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s joint press statement with his Norwegian counterpart on Monday during his Europe trip came under scrutiny at a later Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) briefing, where journalists pressed officials on PM not taking questions from the “freest press in the world”.

PM Modi is currently in Norway for the fourth leg of his five-nation tour and was slated to head to Italy on May 19. He reached Oslo after visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Netherlands and Sweden.

A Norwegian newspaper commentator Helle Lyng shared on X a video of PM Modi walking out of the joint statement venue and said in the caption that PM Modi did not take her question. “Primeminister of India, Narendra Modi, would not take my question, I was not expecting him to,” she said in the post, sharing the video in which a woman can be heard saying loudly, “Why don’t you take some questions from the world’s freest press”.

“Norway has the number one spot on the World Press Freedom Index, India is at 157th, competing with Palestine, Emirates & Cuba. It is our job to question the powers we cooperate with,” the journalist wrote with the video.

Tense exchange in MEA presser
The journalist’s post of PM Modi exiting the press briefing — which sparked varying reactions — also spilled into an MEA presser on the prime minister’s visit later, where Indian officials faced questions over “trust” and “human rights”.

“Why should we trust you,” the same Norwegian newspaper journalist who had posted PM Modi’s video asked, adding that “can you promise you will stop the human rights violation that goes on in your country”.

She also asked if the prime minister “will start takin g critical questions from the Indian press.”

In response, MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George gave a lowdown of “what India is”.

Let me give a background to what India is… What is a country? A country today has four elements. One, population, two government, third sovereignty, and fourth territory. 
So, that is what makes a country a country. And we are proud… That we are a civilisational country of 5,000 years old. 
Continuous civilisation, continuous civilisation. contributed immensely to the world,”

While listing what all originated from India, George could be seen asking someone to let him answer the question without interruption. “Please don’t interrupt me,” a visibly irate George said.