Trans woman makes her debut in KSU protest

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Arunima M Kurup, a trans woman, expressed disappointment that she was shooed away by the police when she and her male colleagues from the KSU led a protest march to  the Accountant General Office against changes in textbooks by the National Council of Educational Research and Training. This was Arunima’s debut protest as the KSU state general secretary.

She is currently a first-year LLB student at CSI College for Legal Studies in Kanakkary, Kottayam, and aspires to be a criminal lawyer while  dabbling in Congress politics. Despite facing many difficulties in her journey as a trans woman, Arunima’s family, comprising her parents, P Manoharan and Jyothi, and  elder brother, Nandu, have always been a source of strength for her.

“If not for my family’s support, I would not have been able to overcome the travails of becoming a  trans woman. It’s my parents who are funding my law studies. I took part in the protest march on Monday and put up a brave fight before the Police. But they shooed me  away citing that I am the only female to get arrested. I would have been happy to spend a few days in jail along with my KSU colleagues including our state president, Aloysius Xavier”, said Arunima.

Arunima is also the president of the Kerala Pradesh Transgender Congress (KPTC), which is the feeder organisation of the State Congress  and was formed during Mullapally Ramachandran’s tenure as State Congress president. Mullapally had even contributed `1 lakh from the party fund towards Arunima’s  sex reassignment surgery expenses. Arunima did her BA in English Language and Literature from University College, Thiruvananthapuram, where she made history by becoming the first trans woman to hold the post of university union member and KSU unit vice-president.

KSU state president Aloysius Xavier said Arunima has already proved her mettle in various capacities during her stint in the University College and KPTC.  “We are proud to bring Arunima towards the centre stage of KSU  where history has been created in the 65-year-old student organisation .KSU State committee will be convening its executive committee next week. At the State executive  committee, the leadership will be assigning a role for Arunima,” said Aloysius.