Visa row over foreign speakers at the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor says 115 invited speakers were refused entry or lost their visas; the External Affairs Ministry says visa matters are a sovereign function.
TL;DR in 30 sec
- Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said 115 of the 315 foreign speakers cleared for the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad were refused entry or had their visas cancelled, Scroll reported.
- Asked about the reports, External Affairs Ministry (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said visa matters are “sovereign functions” of any government, PTI reported.
- According to Scroll and PTI, Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen said her visa was cancelled shortly before she was due to travel. Two Norwegian press bodies asked the Indian embassy in Oslo whether this was linked to a question she put to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May.
What happened
The two-day Bharat Summit, held in Hyderabad on 13 and 14 November, opened on Friday. ThePrint and PTI described the Congress as the organiser, while Scroll described it as organised by the Congress-led Telangana government.
According to Scroll, Tharoor said on social media on 13 November that 115 of the 315 speakers cleared by the MEA were refused entry into India or had their visas cancelled. He said this was “apparently on the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs”.
A PTI report carried by The Tribune said that, according to reports, more than 100 foreign invitees were denied visas or had them revoked, while more than 300 others were cleared.
Party functionaries said the MEA had given political clearance to 316 foreign delegates, one more than Tharoor’s figure, Scroll reported. The same report said the organisers put attendance at about 200 international delegates.
Jaiswal was asked about the reports at his regular briefing on 13 November. “Visa matters are sovereign functions of any country or any government,” he said, according to PTI. PTI’s report did not record any reason given for individual visa decisions.
Why it matters for India 🇮🇳
The row puts the main opposition party and the central government on opposite sides of one question: who may enter India for a political meeting? The summit’s agenda covered democracy, social and economic justice, climate change, gender equality and foreign policy, Scroll reported.
The dispute has also travelled beyond India. The Association of Norwegian Editors and the Norwegian Press Association sent an open letter to the Indian embassy in Oslo on 13 November, Scroll reported. They wrote that it was “legitimate to ask” whether the visa was cancelled because of her questions to the Prime Minister, according to the report. The letter cited India’s rank of 157 out of 180 countries in the 2026 press freedom index of Reporters Without Borders, Scroll reported.
Background
The Congress announced the summit on 10 November and expected about 1,000 delegates from 70 countries, ThePrint reported. Salman Khurshid, a former External Affairs Minister who chairs the Congress’s Foreign Affairs Department, is leading it, ThePrint said. The same report said delegations were expected from Brazil’s Workers’ Party, the UK’s Labour Party, South Africa’s African National Congress and Germany’s Social Democratic Party.
An earlier Bharat Summit was held in Hyderabad on 25 and 26 April 2025, organised by the Telangana government, The South First reported at the time. About 450 delegates from over 100 countries were expected then, according to the report.
Svendsen works for the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen, Scroll reported. After a joint press meeting in Oslo on 18 May, she asked Modi why he does not take questions from the press, according to Scroll.
Different perspectives
The Congress and its leaders. Tharoor said it was “completely unclear under what provision of law the government has taken such a drastic step”, Scroll reported. In a post on X on Thursday, the Congress asked why Modi and his government were “so afraid of questions”, PTI reported.
The central government. The MEA spokesperson said visa matters are a sovereign function of any government and added, “So that is what I have to say,” according to PTI. The Home Ministry, the MEA and the Indian embassy in Oslo had not commented on Svendsen’s account, Scroll reported. The reports cited here carried no response from the Bharatiya Janata Party on the visa decisions.
The journalist and press bodies. Svendsen said on X that “orders from above” in the Home Ministry had cancelled her visa, and that she had been invited “as a panelist and speaker on the future of media and press freedom”, PTI reported. The two Norwegian press bodies wrote that “Journalists must be free to question those who govern,” according to Scroll.
Open questions 🤔
- Why were visas refused or cancelled for some invited speakers, and under which rule?
- How many invited foreign speakers were actually refused entry or had their visas cancelled?
- Will the Home Ministry respond to Tharoor’s statement and to the Norwegian press bodies’ letter?
What to watch next
The Bharat Summit’s second and final day is 14 November in Hyderabad, according to ThePrint and Scroll.
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Sources & Credits
This article is based on the following reporting and official sources. Credit to each original publisher.
- Visas are a 'sovereign function': MEA on Bharat Summit row · The Tribune (PTI) · accessed
- 115 of 315 speakers for Congress' Bharat Summit denied entry into India, claims Shashi Tharoor · Scroll · accessed
- Norwegian press bodies ask if journalist's India visa revoked over criticism of PM Modi · Scroll · accessed
- Congress to host 2nd Bharat Summit in Hyderabad, delegates from 70 countries set to attend · ThePrint · accessed
- 450 delegates, 100 countries: Hyderabad to host Bharat Summit 2025 with focus on justice and pluralism · The South First · accessed