Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) MP John Brittas on Saturday appealed to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to raise, at the “highest appropriate levels”, the issue of Indian students in the United States having their visas revoked without sufficient explanation.
In a letter addressed to the minister, Brittas also called for urgent legal and consular support to be provided to those affected through Indian Missions in the US.
Describing the situation as “deeply distressing and increasingly alarming,” Brittas stated that hundreds of Indian students were reportedly facing sudden visa cancellations with no prior warning or adequate justification.
“What deepens the distress is the nature of the reasons cited for these visa revocations – many of which are astonishingly petty, disproportionate, and wholly incongruous with the gravity of the action taken,” he wrote.
He alleged that students have seen their visas revoked over minor issues such as traffic violations like speeding, unintentional academic errors without due process, inadvertent lapses in documentation, or even social media posts and journalistic articles — particularly those expressing views on sensitive topics like the Palestinian conflict. Other cited reasons included minor mistakes at self-checkout counters in shops, such as failing to scan an item properly.
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Brittas noted that many of these actions had been taken without offering the affected students a chance to explain or defend themselves, thereby creating a “chilling atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among thousands of Indian students striving for legitimate academic pursuits in the United States”.
He further expressed concern over the “opaque and arbitrary nature” of these revocations, which, in his view, lack “procedural fairness and proportionality”.
Given the scale and seriousness of the issue, Brittas called for a firm and coordinated diplomatic intervention by the Indian government.
“We must not allow our youth to be subjected to indignities and jeopardy on foreign soil. We need to stand firmly by them in their hour of crisis,” he stressed.
Brittas urged the External Affairs Minister to engage with US authorities urgently, seeking both an explanation and reversal of the “unjust” visa cancellations. He also requested that instructions be issued to Indian diplomatic missions to provide comprehensive legal and consular aid, including representation and welfare assistance.
In response to recent reports of Indian students in the US receiving notices about possible visa revocations, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated on Thursday that Indian Missions in the United States are in contact with the affected students and are offering necessary support.
