Sibi George, a senior Indian diplomat, has come into the spotlight after a tense exchange with a Norwegian journalist during a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Norway, where he strongly defended India’s record on democracy, human rights and press freedom.Sibi George gave Norwegian press a strong reply amid a row over PM Modi skipping questions. (MEA via ANI)Sibi George is currently serving as Secretary (West) in the MEA, overseeing India's engagement with countries in Europe, West Asia and multilateral forums. A 1993-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, he has previously served as India’s ambassador to Japan, Switzerland, Kuwait, the Holy See, Liechtenstein and the Marshall Islands.George began his diplomatic career in Cairo and later held postings in Doha, Islamabad and Washington DC, where he handled political, commercial and consular affairs. He also served as deputy chief of mission in Tehran and Riyadh and worked in several important divisions at the MEA headquarters in New Delhi, including East Asia and the India-Africa Forum Summit coordination team.Originally from Kerala’s Kottayam district, George is a gold medallist in both graduation and post-graduation and has trained at institutions including the American University in Cairo, IIM Ahmedabad and the Indian School of Business. In 2014, he received the MEA’s SK Singh Award for Excellence in the Indian Foreign Service.PM Modi’s ongoing Europe tourPM Modi is currently on a five-nation diplomatic tour across Europe and the Gulf, aimed at strengthening India’s strategic, economic and technology partnerships with key countries.The prime minister has already visited the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and Sweden before arriving in Norway. Italy is scheduled to be the final stop of the tour. According to the MEA, the visit focuses on trade, energy cooperation, emerging technologies, green transition partnerships and geopolitical coordination with European nations.The Norway leg of the trip, however, attracted attention after a journalist from a Norwegian newspaper publicly criticised PM Modi for not taking questions during the joint press interaction. In a post on X, the journalist shared a video of the prime minister leaving the venue and wrote that Norway ranked first on the World Press Freedom Index while India ranked much lower.The comments later spilled into the official MEA briefing where Indian officials faced repeated questions about democracy and press freedom in India.Tense exchange with journalists in OsloDuring the briefing, the Norwegian journalist asked Indian officials why the world should “trust” India and whether the Indian government would address alleged human rights concerns. She also questioned whether PM Modi would begin taking “critical questions” from the media.Responding firmly, Sibi George said India was a “5,000-year-old civilisation” and highlighted the country’s democratic traditions, constitutional guarantees and contributions during global crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic.“You ask a question, don’t ask me to answer in a particular way,” George said at one point when interrupted during his response.George also pointed to India’s large and diverse media ecosystem, saying critics often failed to understand the scale and complexity of the country. He noted that India had hundreds of television news channels operating in multiple languages and stressed that citizens had constitutional remedies if their rights were violated.He further argued that India granted voting rights to women from the very beginning of independence in 1947, unlike several Western countries where women received voting rights decades later. “We believe in equality; we believe in human rights,” he said during the exchange.The interaction has since sparked widespread debate online, with supporters praising George for forcefully defending India’s image abroad while critics argued the questions raised by journalists deserved direct answers from the prime minister himself.