{"id":2527,"date":"2009-05-09T09:42:02","date_gmt":"2009-05-09T09:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/?p=2527"},"modified":"2023-09-15T16:20:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T16:20:27","slug":"whats-your-pronoun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/whats-your-pronoun\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s your Pronoun?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transgender people have voting rights, but only on paper. They remain politically ostracised, finds <\/em>NEHA DIXIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

THERE IS a curious incongruity to Vote 2009 that no political party is bothered to address. Perhaps it\u2019s not worth their time because it concerns such a small segment of voters. Only about twelve lakh to be precise. The\u00a0kinnars<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 a more respectable term for the transgendered, commonly known as\u00a0hijras<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 were given the right to vote in 1994 but fifteen years and five general elections later, they still face severe official discrimination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ask Bijli, a\u00a0kinnar\u00a0<\/em>who lives near Old Delhi\u2019s Rajendra Market and she says, \u201cElection officers were confused and asked us what our \u2018real\u2019 names were. They wanted to know our male names.\u201d Bijli\u2019s voter ID card says she is a man called Mahesh. She will not vote in the Lok Sabha election because, she says, \u201cit\u2019s useless.\u201d<\/div>\n
In a country run by vote bank politics this sexual minority has little chance of being politically wooed.<\/div>\n
In a desperate attempt at recognition, the\u00a0kinnars<\/em>\u00a0moved the Supreme Court on January 20, seeking their right to educational, social and political rehabilitation. The petition filed by Sonam Singh, a\u00a0kinnar<\/em>\u00a0from Ajmer, sought direction to the union government to constitute a National Kinnar Commission on the lines of those for dalits, tribals, minorities and women. But in February the court dismissed the plea and directed Singh to approach the Home Ministry, where the matter is still \u2018under consideration\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This is what hurts the\u00a0kinnars<\/em>\u00a0the most. They cannot plug into the political system because of acute social ostracisation. Take the example of Prema, 40, who was born as Prem in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh and studied till Class 12. Though she has lived in Delhi for 25 years, she has never had a stable job. \u201cMy first job was that of a waiter in a hotel. In a few weeks, the manager figured out that I was a\u00a0kinnar<\/em>\u00a0and threw me out, saying that the customers objected to my serving food.\u201d She has since been fired from several jobs for the same reasons. She completely distrusts the system. She has now reached a stage where she says, \u201cNothing will change if I vote.\u201d<\/div>\n
Some, like Prema, tried to become a part of the system by standing for elections. It was yet another attempt at changing their lives. Three\u00a0kinnars<\/em>\u00a0were elected to public office including Shabnam\u00a0\u2018Mausi\u2019<\/em>\u00a0Bano, who was the first amongst them. She won the byelection from the Sohagpur assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh in 2000 as an independent. Hope was, however, shortlived because she lost the subsequent election. Again, on September 7, 2002, Kamla Jaan, the\u00a0kinnar<\/em>\u00a0mayor of Katni in Madhya Pradesh was unseated by the High Court after serving three years in office over a disagreement about her gender. The court held her election was illegal since she won a seat which was reserved for women but had registered herself as a man. Similarly, in May 2003, Asha Devi, the\u00a0kinnar<\/em>\u00a0mayor of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh was unseated by a local court after one year in office on the same grounds. She had registered under her male name Amarnath for this constituency which was reserved for women. In the current run up to the polls, no\u00a0kinnar\u00a0<\/em>candidate is reportedly contesting. In the cruel absence of any help,\u00a0kinnars<\/em>are not sure where to turn to. They do not want to be \u2018outed\u2019; they hate being forcibly slotted as \u2018male\u2019 or \u2018female\u2019 but see no door halfopen. Malti, an NGO worker who has been taking up their cause, says, \u201cMany clients tell me they are frequently raped by men and hesitate to reveal who they are.\u2019\u2019 When it comes to the\u00a0kinnars,<\/em>\u00a0their voice doesn\u2019t count, and nor do their votes.<\/div>\n

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 18, Dated May 09, 2009<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transgender people have voting rights, but only on paper. They remain politically ostracised, finds NEHA DIXIT THERE IS a curious incongruity to Vote 2009 that no political party is bothered to address. Perhaps it\u2019s not worth their time because it concerns such a small segment of voters. Only about twelve lakh to be precise. The\u00a0kinnars\u00a0\u2014…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,103],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's your Pronoun? - Neha Dixit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/whats-your-pronoun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's your Pronoun? - Neha Dixit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Transgender people have voting rights, but only on paper. They remain politically ostracised, finds NEHA DIXIT THERE IS a curious incongruity to Vote 2009 that no political party is bothered to address. 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