Grievances of transgenders in Tamil Nadu lost amid the din of hustings

Activists said that politicians use the community as a pawn to seek votes.
Representational image.
Representational image.

SIVAGANGA: Amid the din of the political parties wooing women voters by dishing out a slew of promises, the voice of the third gender is again getting muffled. While the political scene in the State has underwent many a change in the 25 years since the third gender was included in the dance of democracy, it still forms the core of the unheralded and uncared for section of the electorate. 

With the global discourse shifting to women issues, gender has turned into a poll plank. Come election season, politicians are seen making tall promises, including, but not limited to, women safety, reservation in public sector jobs, effecting a sea-change in gender roles among others. The change is a culmination of the protracted war waged for equality; another facet of the paradigm shift is the increasing say women have in the political outcome owing to their numbers. While increasing population ensured women got equal attention, if not more than the male electors, the third gender continues to cut a sorry picture of neglect.

Madurai-based transgender activist Bharathi Kannamma is none too impressed by the way the hustings this election season are panning out. Recalling an incident, wherein her friend was roped in to campaign for a candidate for seven days, she says, “She was sent back after two days. Politicians use our community as a pawn to seek votes but do not really care for us. During the 2006 Assembly elections, a political party gave a member of our gender a ticket to contest, but things stopped at that and there has been no such offer after that.”

When asked why the third gender was under-represented, she said that it was largely due to numbers. “We do not have enough members to be of some account. Had our numbers been high, politicians would have considered us a power to reckon with,” she adds.

What with the taboo - both social and psychological - and the stigma of being a member of the third gender, there is little to no traction for the contestants trying out their luck in the hustings. A case in point being the fact that only one transgender contestant - Radha from Chennai — has thrown her hat into the poll ring. So where does the change lie? “All talks about emancipation begins by making education and healthcare accessible to our community,” she says. 

While the politicians pay lip-service to the demands of bringing the community to the mainstream, Kannamma believes that change can be effected only through a social  transformation, wherein men marrying transgenders are not stigmatised. “More men should come forward to marry the transgenders,” she reiterates. 

Activist-cum-film-maker Malini Jeevarathnam believes the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections can be transformed into a platform to let transgenders air their views and concerns. “Earth is not just for men and women. Inclusive society is the need of the hour,” she says.
 

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