The external affairs ministry defended India’s record on democracy and human rights for the second time during the Prime Minister’s ongoing five-nation tour after the media in Norway raised questions about the lack of question and answer sessions at the PM’s press engagements and reported rights violations.Viral: MEA Secretary Vs Norwegian Journalist Tense Faceoff During PM Modi's VisitThe defence by Sibi George, secretary (West) in the ministry, came late on Monday night in Oslo (early morning on Tuesday in India), hours after Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen sought to pose a question to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his joint media interaction with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Støre.This happened after the media was told the two leaders wouldn’t take questions at the joint interaction, though Støre spoke to Norwegian media outlets after seeing off Modi. The Indian embassy in Norway responded to Svendsen’s social media post on the matter by saying she was “welcome to come and ask your questions” at a news briefing later in the evening.Also Read:Who is Helle Lyng, the Norway journalist who wanted to ask PM Modi a question?The news briefing witnessed a back-and-forth between George and Svendsen that last more than 10 minutes, with the senior diplomat defending India’s record of elections and peaceful transfer of power and fundamental rights related to freedom of expression and faith enshrined in the Constitution in the face of interruptions by the journalist.George responded to Svendsen’s questions on why other countries should trust India and reported human rights violations by pointing to India’s history as a civilisational country for 5,000 years and its contributions such as the number zero, chess and yoga. He said India had gained the world’s trust by supplying vaccines to some 100 countries during the Covid-19 pandemic and organising the G20 Summit in 2023 that successfully produced a joint declaration at a time when the world community was divided by the war in Ukraine.India, George said, also organised the Voice of Global South Summits joined by 125 countries to highlight the aspirations of these nations at the G20, and facilitated the African Union becoming a full member of the G20.While defending India’s human rights record, George said the last general election saw the participation of almost a billion voters and led to a peaceful transfer of power. India’s Constitution guarantees a sovereign, secular, socialist, democratic republic, and ensures justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, and equality of status and opportunity through the fundamental rights, he added.“We are one-sixth of the total population of the world but not one-sixth of the problems of the world,” George said, repeating an argument he made in the Netherlands, where too the external affairs ministry faced questions from the media about the PM not taking questions at press engagements and the country’s human rights situation.“People have no understanding of the scale of India. They read one or two reports published by some God-forsaken, ignorant NGOs and come and ask questions. Don’t worry about it,” George said. “We are a democracy, we were a democratic society for centuries…We have diversity because we have tolerance.”Though George believed at one point in the news briefing that Svendsen had walked out of the event, she had stepped out of the room to get a glass of water.