Kshama Sawant, a well-known Indian-American activist and former member of the Seattle City Council, is facing a deeply personal and distressing situation. She has been denied an Indian visa twice, preventing her from visiting her elderly mother, who is in critical health. Despite her urgent appeals and providing medical documentation of her mother’s severe conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and heart disease—Sawant’s visa applications have been rejected without explanation. An emergency visa request submitted in late 2024 also remains unresolved, leaving her helpless.
India's PM Modi & the BJP government are denying me a visa to see my ill mother.
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) February 1, 2025
I’m not alone. Modi has retaliated against other activists & journalists, denying or revoking entry into India.
Sign the petition. Urge Modi to stop this retaliation. https://t.co/pnLOLW5IHb
My…
Kshama Sawant’s Family Emergency Ignored
The visa denials have raised eyebrows, as Indian authorities have provided no clear reason. Sawant shared with a news channel that her first application was rejected in May 2024, followed by another denial in June 2024. When she applied for an emergency visa in early 2025, she faced prolonged delays, even after submitting a letter from her mother’s doctor detailing the gravity of her health issues. “I am left with no other conclusion than this is political retaliation,” Sawant said, expressing her frustration.
Who is Kshama Sawant?
Sawant’s outspoken criticism of the Indian government, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, has made her a controversial figure. She has been a vocal opponent of policies like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). In 2020, she introduced a resolution in the Seattle City Council condemning the CAA, which gained support from diverse groups, including labour unions and religious communities. Additionally, Sawant was instrumental in making Seattle the first US city to recognise caste discrimination as a protected category.
Her activism isn’t limited to Indian policies. During her time on the Seattle City Council, Sawant championed progressive causes, such as raising the city’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $20.76 per hour and implementing the JumpStart Seattle tax, which targeted billion-dollar corporations like Amazon to fund COVID-19 relief and affordable housing. In 2020, she also introduced a resolution condemning India’s controversial farm laws, which were later repealed following widespread protests.
Sawant believes her visa rejections are a direct response to her political views. She noted that her husband, Calvin Priest, was granted a visa for the same trip, further fueling her suspicions. “They just have to grant me the visa,” she said, challenging the authorities to prove her wrong. Sawant has travelled to India before without issues, including a trip in June 2022, making the current denials all the more puzzling.
Reflecting on her situation, Sawant remarked, “For 10 years, I was an elected official in the United States. I suspect that the Indian authorities believed retaliating against me while I was in office would create more backlash for them. So I am not surprised that the first time they’ve retaliated has been the first time I applied for a visa after I left office.”
Sawant’s case isn’t unique. Other critics of the Indian government have faced similar obstacles. For instance, Ashok Swain, a Sweden-based professor, has been battling the revocation of his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, which bars him from entering India. Like Sawant, Swain has an elderly mother who needs care and has been accused of engaging in activities deemed harmful to India’s interests. These cases highlight a troubling trend of using administrative measures to silence dissent.
At its core, Sawant’s situation is a deeply personal one. Her mother, Vasundhara Ramanujam, is 82 years old and battling multiple life-threatening conditions. Sawant’s inability to be by her side during this critical time adds emotional weight to an already fraught political situation. Her case underscores the complex interplay between personal struggles and global political dynamics, raising important questions about the use of visa policies as tools of retaliation.
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Image Courtesy:@cmkshama/X
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