Transgender community says polls as important to them as to others
The transgender community in Kolkata says elections are as important to them as they are to anyone else, and that they would prefer a government that treats them equally with other citizens of the country.
“We too are citizens of India and it is important that we vote. Who will get to govern the country, the State, the municipality, we should also participate in these decisions. The Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Dalits, minorities — they all express their opinion at the ballot box. Similarly, we should also raise our issues so that political parties listen to us,” community member Debdatta Biswas, who has just nished M.A. in Bengali and is currently pursuing B.Ed., said.
While there are not too many members of the third gender registered as voters — only 48,000 across the country, according to the Election Commission of India — many of those who will vote don’t seem to be in favour of the local parties.
‘Central govt. favoured’ “I would not name any political party, but I would say we prefer the Central government over the State government, and we will vote accordingly. We have reasons for that,” Ranjita Sinha, director of the Association of Transgender/Hijra and a representative of the community in Bengal, told The Hindu.
“The (present) Central government never opposed the transgender movement. In fact, it set up a Transgender Council. It also introduced Garima
Griha for shelter to the transgender people thrown out of their homes and to train them for livelihood and give them medical treatment. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, they gave our people money and ration,” Ms. Sinha said.
“The State government, on the other hand, has never done anything to support us. There are so many schemes for women, girls, but none for us — why?” she asked.
“Our community has always been ghting for its rights, but how much of the rights has it got yet? Today, all other people have their rights, but our struggle continues. We only hope our public representatives take up our issues and support our struggle,” Shruti and Debanjan, a transgender couple in the city, said.