Indian-origin US anti-caste activist alleges visa denial to visit ailing mother in Bengaluru

Indian-origin anti-caste activist Kshama Sawant said on Sunday that the Indian government had denied her a visa to visit her ailing mother in Bengaluru.

United States-based Sawant was an elected representative on the Seattle City Council from 2013 to 2023.

In February 2023, Seattle became the first US city to ban caste-based discrimination, voting on a resolution moved by Sawant.

Sawant described her visa rejection as “political retaliation by the Bharatiya Janata Party government”. She has started an online petition to protest the move.

“Modi has retaliated against other activists and journalists, denying or revoking entry into India,” Sawant pointed out, adding that her 82-year-old mother’s health was rapidly declining.

“We urge the Modi government to adopt a humane policy and urgently grant a visa for Kshama Sawant and her husband Calvin Priest to be able to travel to India to visit Kshama’s mother,” reads the petition.

Sawant has thrice been denied an India visa with no explanation, the petition said, adding that her appeal to Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar was also rejected.

“During that time, she passed a resolution condemning the anti-Muslim, anti-poor CAA-NRC [Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens] citizenship laws from the Modi and BJP government, and another in solidarity with the farmers’ movement against Modi’s brutal and exploitative policies,” the…

Read more