Indian-American politician Kshama Sawant and her supporters launched an attack on the Indian consulate in Seattle. She alleged that while her husband was given an emergency visa, her application to travel to India to see her 82-year-old ailing mother in Bengaluru was denied three times. She claimed that her name was put on a “reject list” without offering any explanation.
India's Modi government has rejected my visa THREE TIMES to visit my 82-year-old mother who is very sick.
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) February 7, 2025
Seattle's Indian Consulate gave my husband visa again. They say my name is on a "reject list." They refuse to tell us why.
Now they've threatened to call the police on us.
The members of her political organization “Workers Strike Back” arrived at the consulate where Sawant was holding a protest. “We engaged in a peaceful civil disobedience at the consulate office, with other members outside on the street,” she added. Sawant, who vehemently opposes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, “urged” the political opposition to defend her and other critics, arguing that it is in their best interests to do so.
NOW: Kshama Sawant and members of Workers Strike Back are engaging in a peaceful sit-in at the Consulate of India in Seattle, demanding answers for why @cmkshama’s visa has been denied a third time, and why she has been told that the Modi government has placed her on a “reject… pic.twitter.com/a7nZk7HUeL
— Workers Strike Back (@wrkrsstrikeback) February 7, 2025
On the other hand, the Indian consulate in Seattle wrote about a law and order issue involving “unauthorized entry by certain individuals” into its building after office hours. It added that these people acted aggressively and threateningly toward the employees and refused to leave the premises despite numerous requests. “We were compelled to call in relevant local authorities to deal with the situation. Further action is being initiated against the trespassers,” the consulate affirmed.
Today, the Consulate was forced to deal with a law and order situation arising from the unauthorized entry by certain individuals into the Consulate premises after office hours.
— India In Seattle (@IndiainSeattle) February 7, 2025
Despite repeated requests, these individuals refused to leave the Consulate premises and engaged in…
Sawant stated, “We were simply asking for an explanation as to why my visa was rejected three times, and by the consulate’s own admission, I’m on the Modi government’s reject list. Rather than giving us an explanation, the consulate repeatedly threatened to call the cops on us, tried to confiscate our phones, and tried to physically remove us.” She remarked that they would remain at the consulate until they received a response for the repeated denials of her visas.
“All we are asking for is an explanation. Why am I on a reject list? Why is my visa being rejected three times,” Sawant asked. She also wrote about her anti-India stances including propaganda against NRC-CAA and caste politics, claiming to champion the causes of marginalised groups and therefore being targeted by the current administration in New Delhi.
A Consular officer said I'm being denied a visa coz I'm on Modi govt's "reject list."
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) February 7, 2025
It's clear why.
My socialist City Council office passed a resolution condemning Modi's anti-Muslim anti-poor CAA-NRC citizenship law. We also won a historic ban on caste discrimination.…
Moreover, Sawant also accused the Indian officials of being physically assaulted. “One consulate staff person first violently grabbed a Workers Strike Back member and tried to take her phone. The phone fell down, and the consulate staff member engaged in a scuffle, trying to grab the phone. At the same time, another consulate staff person physically fought me when I was holding the door open for all of us to leave. He violently tried to push the stairwell door shut to try to physically block us from leaving, despite the fact that we were doing exactly what they had repeatedly asked us to do, which is leave. Instead, they literally tried to trap us in, clearly to try and get us arrested by the police.”
She expressed that under capitalism, the police are not the allies of working people. “But it was so obvious that we were being assaulted while peacefully leaving that even the police felt forced to say something to object to the manhandling of us by the consulate staff.” In 2024, Sawant’s request for a visa was turned down twice, however, she was allowed to come to India earlier. According to her, the opposition parties must unite and object to “an inhumane agenda where Indian citizens, like my mother, are not allowed to meet their own families.”
Sawant, a former Seattle City Council member threatened that she is considering filing a lawsuit to overturn her visa decision, although she hasn’t started the procedure yet.
It is worth noting that a visa is a privilege enjoyed by non-Indians to visit the country, not a birthright that Kshama believes it to be. As far as no reason being offered before rejection, it is notable to mention that hundreds of Indians get their visa applications rejected in various US embassies across the country, with no specific reason provided for their rejection.
