Kolkata: Indian-American politician Kshama Sawant is determined to legally challenge the Indian government for having denied a travel visa to visit her ailing mother in Bengaluru.
Earlier this month, Sawant, a former Seattle City Council member and founder of Workers Strike Back (WSB), had been denied a visa for the third time.
According to Sawant, the Consulate took over three weeks to tell her about the decision which they had already made, which was to reject her application,
Speaking to eNewsroom over the phone, Sawant said, “Modi government has denied a travel visa for her to travel to India for the third time. Even though my mother is 82 years old, in frail health, and desperately needs me to be by her side.”
“What struck me, even more, is the fact that I was denied an explanation as to why I have been put on the Indian government’s reject list, while my husband Calvin Priest has been granted a visa. I was told about the rejection only when I went over to the consulate seeking an explanation for the delay,” she continued.
According to her, when she was denied an explanation by the Indian Consulate, she and her husband decided to stage a peaceful sit-in. “We were demonstrating peacefully before the consulate and then the officials began threatening to call the police upon us. With the number of people gathering around us, the WSB members joined us in our demonstration demanding an explanation for my name being on the reject list.”
She further added that instead of explaining, the Consulate called the police, following which she and her supporters left the Consulate’s premises.
In response to Sawant’s claims, the Indian Consulate in Seattle tweeted from its official account on X, stating “We were compelled to call in relevant local authorities to deal with the situation. Further action is being initiated against the trespassers.”
However, the press release issued by WSB claimed, “The Consulate staff then attempted to block the door, physically assaulted those of us who were trying to exit, and engaged in a scuffle to try to confiscate the phone of one activist who was filming the violent actions of the Consulate staff.”
According to Sawant, there is a reason for her being ‘banned from India’. “During the period when I was an elected member of the Seattle Council, I had passed a resolution condemning the anti-Muslim, anti-poor CAA-NRC citizenship laws from the Modi and BJP governments. Our office also won a historic ban on caste-based discrimination. Both pieces of legislation were strenuously opposed by Modi and BJP supporters in the United States. We also won a resolution in solidarity with the farmers’ movement against Modi’s brutal and exploitative policies. Hence, I guess this denial of visa for me is like a political retaliation.”
She added, “And I am not the lone Modi critic who is being punished. Ashok Swain, Ashish Taseer and Nitisha Kaul have also had to face a similar fate. But, I am not going to give up. We shall be staging a protest here in Seattle on March 22.”
