Tripura queer welfare group slams minister Ratan Lal Nath for comments on transgender community
![](https://www.justicenews.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/download-38.jpeg)
Swabhimaan, a Tripura-based social welfare group, has also sought an apology and said the state government should think if they at all require the 36 per cent votes of the LGBTQIA+ community in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Written by Debraj Deb
Slamming Tripura Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath for his recent purported controversial statement on the members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Swabhimaan, a social welfare group of the members of the community, on Tuesday termed it “objectionable”.
Swabhimaan has also sought an apology and said the state government should think if they at all require the 36 per cent votes of the LGBTQIA+ community in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing the media at the Agartala Press Club, Transgender Welfare Board member and Swabhimaan president Sneha Gupta Roy said, “On one hand, the government is helping us while on the other hand, a minister of the same government is saying such things.”
Roy was referring to Nath’s comments at an event of the BJP at Agartala’s Banamalipur on Sunday. Referring to the members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Nath had purportedly said, “Do you want a boy to become a girl or a girl to turn into a boy?…Rapid changes are taking place, (people are engaging in) live-ins…The Indian culture is not like this.”
Criticising the minister for his comments, Roy said, “What kind of language is this? How was his (Nath) educational and ministerial qualifications ascertained? Why should we accept such insults?”
Roy added, “We request the CM to look into the matter. We need a solution to this. We can’t accept this kind of insult.”
Roy also said that ministers should be sensitised on transgender issues. “This community is already facing torture, insults and trolling and with his (Nath) comments, it might take a turn for the worse,” Roy said, adding Nath has got nothing to do with who becomes a transgender.
“The Transgender Welfare Board was formed here after an approval from the state government. We strongly condemn this kind of insulting words,” said Roy, who is also Tripura’s first openly trans person.
Meanwhile, the government and the BJP are yet to react to the allegations.
When asked, Roy said that there are nearly 150 transwomen in the state while nearly 50 others are in the process of changing their genders.
Last year, Swabhimaan Tripura LGBTQIA+ Collective – the first registered queer society of Tripura — organised the second pride rally of the state which saw the participation of hundreds of people.
Courtesy : The India Express
Note: This news piece was originally published in theindiaexpress.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Righ