Female journalist forced to leave India for reporting critically on Modi govt

An Australian female journalist was forced to leave India for reporting critically on Narendra Modi government.

South Asia bureau chief of Australia’s national broadcaster ABC News Avani Dias claimed that the government had made it “too difficult” for her to report from the country during the elections last week.

“Last week, I had to leave India abruptly. The Modi government told me my visa extension would be denied,” she said on X. “After Australian government intervention, I got a mere two-month extension … less than 24 hours before my flight.”

“We were also told my election accreditation would not come through because of an Indian ministry directive. We left on day one of voting in the national election in what Modi calls ‘the mother of democracy’.”

In the final episode before leaving the Hindu majority country, she said an official from India’s Foreign Ministry had called her to inform that her visa would not be renewed and she would have to leave the country in a couple of weeks.

Dias was off the view that the decision was made for her coverage of the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader who was shot dead in Canada last year.

“He specifically said it was because of my Sikh separatist story, saying ‘It had gone too far’,” Ms Dias said.

However, India has denied the allegations.

Modi is tipped to win a rare third term in the ongoing elections as he remains popular among the country’s Hindu majority.