Govt denies visa to woman who fought caste discrimination in US

Indian-origin Kshama Sawant, a former member of the Seattle City Council in the US, has alleged that she was denied an Indian visa to visit her ailing mother, claiming she was placed on a “visa reject” list for having helped pass a law in Washington state to end caste discrimination. This was the third visa rejection for her in the past year.

Following the visa denial, Sawant and members of her organisation, Workers Strike Back, held a protest at the Indian Consulate in Seattle, calling it an act of “peaceful civil disobedience”. Indian Consulate officials called in local police to handle the situation.

Sawant posted on X: “My husband and I are at the Seattle Indian Consulate. They granted him an emergency visa due to my mother’s critical condition but rejected mine, literally saying my name is on a ‘reject list’. (They are) refusing to give an explanation. We’re refusing to leave.”

The Indian Consulate in Seattle issued a statement on X, saying: “The Consulate was forced to deal with a law-and-order situation arising from the unauthorised entry of certain individuals into the Consulate premises after office hours.”

“Despite repeated requests, they refused to leave the Consulate premises and engaged in aggressive behaviour with Consulate staff. We were compelled to call in local authorities to deal with the situation.”

Meanwhile, in another post on X, Sawant claimed: “A consular officer said I’m being denied a visa because I’m on Modi government’s ‘reject list’.”

She attributed the alleged visa denial to a resolution she had moved in the Seattle City Council, stating: “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.”

In 2023, the Seattle City Council added caste to the city’s anti-discrimination laws.