Congress targets Narendra Modi over Norway media interaction

The Congress on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, criticising him for not taking questions from the media during his visit to Norway and accusing him of weakening India’s democratic tradition of free press engagement.

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh alleged that the prime minister has consistently avoided press conferences over the last 12 years and “does not feel comfortable facing questions.”

“The entire country witnessed how our ‘teleprompter-jeevi’ PM was seen dodging and running away from a mere question on foreign soil. The world saw that the head of state of the world’s largest democracy is not comfortable facing even a single question,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

Referring to a journalist’s question posed to Modi during his Norway visit, Ramesh said India has seen a steady decline in press interaction by the prime minister despite a long-standing democratic tradition.

“In India’s democracy, the media, the Opposition, and heads of state have always upheld the tradition of asking and answering questions. However, in the last 12 years, this tradition has almost been broken by the prime minister,” he said.

The Congress also sought to draw a comparison with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, claiming he has been far more accessible to the media. According to the party, Gandhi has held 129 press conferences between 2013 and 2025, apart from responding to “countless unfiltered questions” on multiple occasions.

“As the leader of India’s principal opposition party, Rahul Gandhi has consistently faced questions on a wide range of issues, questioned the government, and spoken directly to the press,” Ramesh added.

The party separately released a compiled list of Rahul Gandhi’s press interactions to reinforce its claim of regular media engagement.

With PTI inputs