Kshama Sawant, a former Indian American Seattle City Council member, has accused the Indian government of “political retaliation” after being denied a visa twice to visit her elderly mother in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Sawant’s mother, Vasundhara Ramanujam, 82, has been unwell for two years, and Sawant has been trying to visit her since May last year. Despite applying for an e-visa and later an emergency entry visa, Sawant’s applications have been rejected without explanation.
READ: Seattle activist Kshama Sawant accuses Indian consulate of assault after mission alleges unauthorized entry (February 7, 2025)
Her latest request for an emergency visa to visit her mother was denied on Jan. 9. Earlier, she tried twice in May and June 2024.
Sawant, who has been an outspoken critic of India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), claims her introduction of a resolution in the Seattle council condemning the law may have led to the visa denial.
“India’s PM Modi & the BJP government are denying me a visa to see my ill mother. I’m not alone. Modi has retaliated against other activists & journalists, denying or revoking entry into India,” Sawant posted on X. “My socialist Seattle City Council office took an unwavering stand against India’s right-wing, anti-worker, anti-Muslim PM Narendra Modi & his right-wing nationalist BJP party.”
“Modi & the BJP have waged sustained attacks on workers, farmers, Muslims, and other oppressed groups in India, including with the anti-Muslim, anti-poor CAA-NRC law, which denied citizenship to millions,” she added.
READ: Trump acts fast to curb immigration, end diversity programs (January 21, 2025)
“Working people & the Left internationally need to fight against the right wing and the billionaire class, and their brazen tactics of repression and attacks on immigrants, activists & movements, including with strike action and civil disobedience,” she added.
“Fight against Modi, BJP, Trump, Republicans, Democrats & all the capitalist parties,” Sawant wrote asking people to sign an online petition to “Urge Modi to stop this retaliation.”
READ: Trump stages a triumphant return to power (January 20, 2025)
Sawant is not the only person to face visa issues for her critique of the Narendra Modi-led government. Last February, Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic, was denied entry at Bengaluru airport without explanation. Kaul is an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI).
Similarly, Sweden-based professor Ashok Swain’s OCI card was cancelled in 2023 allegedly due to his criticism of the government. Writer Aatish Taseer’s OCI status was also revoked in 2019 after he wrote a Time Magazine cover story, “India’s Divider in Chief,” criticizing Modi’s leadership.