Kshama Sawant, the name associated with Seattle becoming the first US city to enact a law against caste-based discrimination in 2023 – and rather the first in the world outside South Asia – has recently been denied a visa by the Indian government to visit her ailing mother.
Sawant, then the lone Indian-American member of the Seattle City Council, is known for her unwavering dedication to social justice and firebrand activism. She has consistently stood up for marginalised groups, including the poor working class and minorities, often inviting the ire of right-wing groups and corporations. In 2013, she lent her voice to the simmering issue of caste-based discrimination faced by Dalits in US technology companies at the hands of upper-caste managers. She moved an ordinance and galvanised support across race, religion, and caste backgrounds, with more than 200 US organisations rallying behind her.
The ordinance, expectedly, faced some opposition from groups including the Coalition of Hindus of North America, the Hindu American Foundation, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America who argued that the legislation unfairly singled out Hindus and contributed to harmful misconceptions about them. A letter signed by more than 100 diverse organisations and businesses urged the Seattle City Council to oppose Sawant’s ordinance. Surprisingly, it prominently included a Dalit-Bahujan outfit – Ambedkar-Phule Network of American Dalits and Bahujans – indicating how hopelessly even the well-educated Dalits are fragmented in the diaspora.
On the day of the debate, the council chamber overflowed with activists from both sides bearing banners, chanting slogans, and challenging speakers and city officials. The stark divisions among the South Asian diaspora laid bare the prescience of Ambedkar’s assertion that Indians spreading across the world would make caste a global problem. A majority of those present in the council chamber supported the ordinance, while opponents formed a vocal minority. As council members approved the ordinance by a 6-1 majority, the chamber erupted into cheers of “Jai Bhim,” a rallying cry adopted by Dalits in honour of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The ripples soon spread across the world among Dalits, making Kshama Sawant a household name.
Not only Dalits but also the entire progressive world hailed this historic feat, showering congratulatory messages and encomiums on Sawant. A Vancouver-based Indian-Canadian organisation even declared her the Person of the Year 2023.
A software engineer who became an economics professor and then an activist-politician, Sawant’s socialist leanings were strengthened after she migrated from Mumbai to the US and attended Socialist Alternative meetings in Seattle. After an unsuccessful run for the House of Representatives, she was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2014, becoming the first socialist on the council since 1877. She served until she announced that she would not seek re-election, choosing instead to promote the Socialist Alternative campaign, Workers Strike Back, to unionise workers. In 2024, she left Socialist Alternative and formed her own party, Revolutionary Workers. She was also part of the movement to raise the US minimum wage and played a key role in passing a resolution opposing India’s anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act in 2020.
The news of Indian authorities rejecting her visa application to see her ailing mother first emerged on social media. As a civil rights activist, I reached out to her to seek details. She provided written replies to my queries, which are as follows:
Can you share details about your visa application process? Were any specific reasons cited for the denial?
My application for an e-visa was rejected on May 29, 2024. I applied again for an e-visa, and that was also rejected on June 7th, 2024. No reasons were ever provided for why my e-visa request was rejected twice. Each time, the response merely said, “Application Status: Rejected.”
Then on January 9, 2025, my husband Calvin Priest and I applied for an emergency entry visa at the Consulate General of India in Seattle, on account of my mother’s declining health. We attached a letter from my mother’s doctor to the application. We were told at that time that we could expect a response within one or two days.
After a week of receiving no response to our emergency entry visa application, Calvin and I went to the Consulate General of India in Seattle and met with the Consul Officer in Charge, Mr. Suresh Kumar Sharma, and asked him why we had not received any response to our application.
To date, there has been no response to our emergency entry visa application. We have called Mr. Sharma several times on the phone and he has never answered the calls.
Have you received any official communication from Indian authorities regarding your visa rejections?
I have received no official communication from Indian authorities regarding my visa rejections.
You have written to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar. Have you received any acknowledgment or response?
Yes, I sent a letter to S. Jaishankar on June 13, 2024. I received no acknowledgement or response.
In the letter, I wrote:
“I am writing to appeal to you regarding my e-visa request for my trip to Bengaluru from June 26 through July 15, 2024. My e-visa key is 08510159924.
This is an urgent visit for myself and my husband, Calvin Priest, whose e-visa was granted. We are traveling to visit my ailing mother, Smt. Vasundhara Ramanujam, whose health has been declining rapidly, and whom we have not been able to visit for two years.
I am attaching a note from my mother’s doctor, explaining her condition, in which he writes:
“This is to certify that Mrs. Vasundhara Ramanujam, aged 82 years/female, is under treatment in our hospital since 2 years for Atrial Fibrillation, COPD, Chronic kidney disease, Diabetes mellitus, Hypertension and Ischemic heart disease.
“The presence of her daughter, Mrs. Kshama Iyengar Sawant holding Passport no – A00905502, is necessary to take care of Mrs. Vasundhara, since her health is deteriorating rapidly.”
My husband and I are traveling to India only to visit my mother and other family members and not for other reasons. I would appeal to you to grant my visit because it is extremely important for me to be able to see my mother in the context of her declining health.”
Do you believe your role in advocating for Seattle’s anti-caste legislation is linked to the visa denial?
There seems to be no other plausible explanation at this point than a political rejection by the BJP government.
I was a socialist and working-class representative on the Seattle City Council for ten years, from 2014 through the end of 2023. During that time, I used my office to build mass movements of working people and community members to win the $15.hour minimum wage in Seattle, which is now $20.76 per hour, the highest minimum wage in the United States. Organising working people, my office also won the Amazon Tax on Seattle’s wealthiest corporations to fund a major expansion of affordable housing.
In February 2020, we won a resolution condemning the anti-Muslim, anti-poor CAA NRC citizenship laws from the Modi and BJP government in India. Modi’s Indian Consulate of San Francisco sent a letter to the City Council opposing my resolution. We also faced opposition from many U.S.-based right-wing Hindutva and Modi supporters.
In February 2023, my office, alongside thousands of South Asian and American working people, won the historic ban on caste-based discrimination. Our most high-profile opponent was the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, one of the far-right organizations tied to Modi and his BJP. The right-wing Hindu American Foundation and the Coalition of Hindus of North America also set themselves against us.
There is no doubt that the Modi government, with the help of their supporters in the United States, opposed this anti-CAA-NRC and anti-caste legislation won by my City Council office, and that they are aware of my political views.
What legal options are you currently exploring to challenge this decision? Are you in touch with any lawyers in India?
I am looking into legally challenging the denial of a visa.
Have you considered seeking diplomatic or congressional support in the US to address this issue? Are you planning to take any public or advocacy-driven action to highlight your case?
We will be organising a public petition, and urging that Congress members Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna and other elected officials publicly urge the Modi regime to allow my husband and me to travel to India to see my sick mother.
How has this situation affected you personally, given your mother’s health condition?
I am extremely worried and anxious about my mother’s health. She is 82 years old, and in frail and declining health. I think it is inhumane for the Modi regime to not allow me to see my mother. What kind of government does this?
What message would you like to convey to the public and policymakers regarding your visa denial?
If the Modi government wants to claim that denying me a visa is not a matter of political retaliation against me, then they have a straightforward way of proving it — by granting me a visa so that I can see my sick mother.
§
The answers are self-explanatory.
Given the Sawants’ background, this decision appears politically motivated and arbitrary, casting a troubling shadow over India’s democracy. At a time when global investor confidence in the country is already dwindling due to such tendencies, it is unfortunate that the government continues to reinforce them.
