Hundreds of transgender and queer people and hundreds of others walked through the heart of Calcutta on Friday to protest discrimination against minorities in the country.
The carnival-like march drew as much attention for its rainbow flags and colourful outfits as for poignant posters and powerful slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.
A sense of being discriminated against or marginalised in an increasingly majoritarian society united the members of the LGBTQ community and other people from various walks of life and brought them out to protest the CAA, NRC, Kashmir lockdown, the transgender persons act and other government measures.
A college teacher walked shoulder to shoulder with a sex worker, a homemaker with a student. Roshana Karim, a 60-year-old homemaker from Taltala, had never walked in protest until a few days ago. Friday’s rally was her third in the past month. Both previous rallies were against CAA.
“The Centre’s move will not only lead to harassment of Muslims, it is also anti-women and anti-poor. This happens when (Nathuram) Godse worshippers are in the seat of power. It is our duty to protest,” she said. With her walked another woman, about her age and with the same steely resolve against discrimination.
They carried a poster that read: “Your divisive politics has united us”.
Among those who walked were many who did not have a conventional family. If finding old family papers were difficult for others, it would be doubly difficult for people of the LGBTQ community, pointed out a rights activist.
A protester holds an “Azadi” poster at the rally.
“Marginalised women — sex workers, trafficked women, women with disabilities and mental health condition, incarcerated women and landless women — have taken to the streets. Many of them experienced severe trauma and violation by family members. Now, to prove family lineage through the citizenship act is so problematic,” said gender and disability rights activist Ratnaboli Ray.
“Many have survived through informal network, support and kinship. CAA challenges that informality and kinship and puts the normative understanding of the family at the centre,” she added.
Anindya Hajra, founder of Pratyay Gender Trust and a transgender, was dismayed at the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament in disregard of reservations of so many people like Pratyay.
“So many transgenders were excluded from the NRC in Assam. We had made so many submissions about our reservations on the draft of the bill (CAB), which were completely disregarded. People who decided on our lives and on our fate were not us. Someone else came and decided on behalf of us. So, we reject this act completely,” Anindya told Metro, half soaked in showers.
At least 19 lakh people have been excluded from the final NRC in Assam. Around 2,000 of them are transgenders.
Braving a gloomy sky, persistent drizzle and slush, the rally started from the Shahid Minar ground around 4pm and wound its way through Central Avenue and Bidhan Sarani before ending at Hedua.
As the protesters walked along one flank of Government Place East, slogans such as “Mohabbat Zindabad (Long live love)” and Jaan Qubool, Inquilab (My life to revolution)” echoed in the evening air. Giant banners reading “We will resist” and “No human being is illegal” were held aloft.
A sex worker from Nadia, who comes to Calcutta for work, said she was walking because the future of her children was at stake. “It is another thing that we, discarded by our families, will not be able to produce documents. But our children are defined by their mothers’ identity. Will they grow up in detention centres? I will fight this act till my last breath,” said the 47-year-old.
