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Kshama Sawant, former Seattle City Council member, is challenging the BJP-led government’s repeated visa rejections, though her 82-year-old mother is ailing and needs her by her side. Her big protest outside the Indian Consulate in Seattle has sparked a widespread debate in America about the treatment meted out to diaspora critics
Enewsroom Staff Reporter
Kshama Sawant, Indian-American politician, famous for her community work, and her gutsy and progressive stance, is determined to legally and politically challenge the BJP-led 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 a popular organisation, Workers Strike Back, (WSB), had been denied a visa for the third time.
According to her, 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 in Kolkata over the phone, Sawant said, “The Modi government has denied a travel visa for me 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 said.
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 that they will call the police. With the number of people gathering around us, the member of Workers Strike Back joined us in our demonstration, demanding an explanation for my name being on the reject list.”
She said that instead of explaining their position, 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 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 initiated by 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.”
Courtesy enewsroom : https://enewsroom.in/activist-kshama-sawant-visa-denial-us-seattle/