Indian consulate in Seattle rejects Kshama Sawant’s emergency visa

Kshama Sawant.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Indian consulate in Seattle rejected Indian-American politician Kshama Sawant’s emergency visa but granted it to her husband Calvin Priest.

The officer at the consulate did not give an explanation, simply saying Ms. Sawant’s name is on the “rejection list”.

Ms. Sawant, a critic of India’s Hindu Right, has “urged” the country’s political Opposition to speak up for critics like her, saying it is in their interest to do so.

Ms. Sawant’s visa application to visit her ailing mother in Bengaluru, was denied twice in 2024. She has said that the Opposition parties should come together to state that they would not support “an inhumane agenda where Indian citizens, like my mother, are not allowed to meet their own families”.

A former City Council Member of Seattle, Ms. Sawant has said she is exploring a legal challenge to her visa denial, but hasn’t begun the process yet.

After serving a decade on the Seattle City Council, Ms. Sawant established a political organisation — Workers Strike Back, advocating for a federal minimum wage of $25 an hour, unionising labour in big Tech, to tap into what she calls “pent-up frustration against the Democratic Party” for supporting big businesses.