Her journalistic work shows she has been critical of the Donald Trump administration. "F**k you, Trump", read the headline of one such article. On the other hand, several of Lyng's articles praise "superpower" China and President Xi Jinping. She has also written multiple articles slamming Elon Musk's Tesla.
Hours later, Helle Lyng asked Rahul Gandhi if he would be available for an interview.
"Hello, would you be available for a phone interview... It would be interesting to hear how you view the (PM's) visit to Norway," she asked. At the time of writing the article, Gandhi was yet to reply to her.
The BJP dismissed the controversy, calling Lyng a "delinquent journalist".
BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya also pointed out that even the Norwegian PM did not take questions from the media.
PM Narendra Modi and Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng (snap - India Today)
What particularly drew scrutiny is her X activity. Before her post on PM Modi, Lyng's last activity on X was on April 10, 2024, where she posted her article on youngsters struggling with cocaine addiction. Before that, she posted in 2022.
In 2021, she retweeted a post that shared a picture of PM Modi and world leaders tossing a coin during the G20 Rome Summit.
While Lyng may not have been able to interview PM Modi, she, however, managed to climb on the popularity chart. From barely having 800 followers on X before Monday, she presently has over 17k followers. And it's increasing by the minute.
A quick look at her profile on Muck Rack shows that Lyng has worked as a freelancer for several Norwegian publications and MSN.
She is presently a commentator in the little-known Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen,
which has a circulation of fewer than 14,000. It also doesn't feature in the top 10 Norwegian media houses.
The second press briefing turned tense as Lyng raised questions on India's credibility and human rights record. MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George gave a meandering response that touched on India's civilisation, the origins of chess, yoga, Covid vaccine diplomacy, etc.
"In fact, more than his response, his facial expressions and antics grabbed more attention," says 'India Today'.
"Why don't you take some questions from the freest press in the world?" journalist Helle Lyng shouted. While it is unclear if PM Modi heard the question, he left the room. The moment was enough to spark a debate on press freedom.
Amid the controversy, the spotlight has now turned to Lyng herself and her social media activity.
"The lunatic Congress ecosystem led by Rahul Gandhi is crowing over a delinquent journalist's incoherent rant.
One wonders if, like the journalist in question, the Congress leadership is also on the take of those who do not want to see a strong and powerful India," BJP leader Amit Malviya posted.
At one briefing, Sibi George had said:
"You need to have the information about India's transformation today. That is how we are moving ahead with the democratic process to become a developed country.
See, as a as a diplomat I am so proud to say that everything we have achieved, the economic progress, today we are the largest, fastest growing large economy in the world. 8% growth for the last 25 years.
And how did we achieve it? Without compromising on our democratic principles.
We did not go for, you know, violence to eliminate poverty. We went a democratic process of elimination of poverty. This is the beauty of India.
"To summarize, we are 1/6th of the total population of the world but not 1/6th of the problems of the world. This is the beauty of India, which makes us proud. So, every minority thrives. When we became independent, the minority population in India was 11%.
Now it is more than 20%.
Name a country where the population of minorities have gone up, you won't find it other than India.
This is the beauty of India. So, I would request you to learn more about India so that you will have more appreciation of what India is, and how it is progressing.
Again, another minorities, you know, linguistic minorities, every language is flourishing in India. There are 22 official languages.
If you take a Indian currency, there are 22 languages written in it.
Again, every language is flourishing in India. This is the beauty of India. So, I would invite also you to visit India and for see for yourself how India lives, how thriving an economy it is, how vibrant a democracy it is. Thank you."
ends
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