Polls come and go but transgender people sidelined

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as transgender issues are being discussed in the social milieu, the community’s demands do not find a single mention in the manifesto of most political parties. Except for the LDF, transgender issues aren’t discussed in the manifesto of UDF and BJP. The issue boggles the members of the transgender community. This, at a time when UDF has a separate wing for the transgender community called the Kerala Pradesh Transgender Congress (KPTC).

The issue boggles the members of the transgender community who have been battling it out to find their space in society. “The UDF has a unit under the KPCC dedicated to the welfare of transgenders. They are vocal in their support and maintain that housing and employment issues will be addressed. But nothing is there in the manifesto, not even a mention of the word,” says a member of KPTC who doesn’t wish to be named.

The demand for a housing scheme for transgenders and better employment opportunities are among the main grievances of the community. “The imminent need is to protect the rights of the transgender community. Rights such as the right to marriage, adoption, inheritance and so on need to be formulated. These can be done by the state government and existing laws need to be amended. A lot of welfare schemes and progressive interventions were brought in by the present government but we need to do more,” says Syama S Prabha, secretary of the DYFI unit in Thiruvananthapuram which is transgender-inclusive, having 14 transgender members.

The LDF has come up with a manifesto where transgender issues find representation. “There are political parties whose manifesto doesn’t even carry the word transgender. That’s alarming,” she adds.Denying any such neglect, State Congress vice-president Palode Ravi has said that any failure to mention transgenders doesn’t translate to ignoring their needs. “We’ve taken the effort to make ours a people’s manifesto. The issues of the transgender community are important and a mere absence of mentioning it in manifesto doesn’t mean their grievances won’t be addressed. We are committed to helping the weaker sections and that has been mentioned in the manifesto. The trans community falls in that,” says Palode Ravi. 

State president of KPTC Arunima Sulfikar has said their immediate demands of total reservation and constituting transgender welfare board have been communicated to the party and that an absence in the mention in the manifesto isn’t worrying. “We didn’t want a separate mention in the manifesto,” said the transwoman. 

Former Mizoram Governor and BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan has said the party is highly committed to the welfare of transgenders. “Effort will be taken for the welfare of the community. We have a national policy for the welfare of transgenders. These will be reflected in all the policies we implement here. We haven’t mentioned many such sectors in the manifesto where we already have a national policy in place,” Kummanam said.