New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate Sewa Bharati’s annual Holi celebration had a group of first-time attendees this year — six transgender people, who were welcomed to the stage by the organisation’s senior functionaries as “hamare Shikhandi bhai and behene”.
Shikhandi is a character in the epic Mahabharata who was born as the daughter of King Drupada — Draupadi’s father — but later changed her sex to male.
This is the first time in the history of the RSS and Sewa Bharati that transgenders were invited to the latter’s traditional ‘Holi Milan’ celebration, held at the latter’s central Delhi headquarters Sunday.
With the RSS — the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ideological fountainhead — veering into the domain of working for the social inclusion of the LGBTIQA+ community, Sunday’s Holi celebration invite was the first in a series of programmes that the organisation has planned for the community, including havans (a Hindu ritual) and healthcare initiatives.
According to a senior RSS functionary, the push came after the organisation found many transgenders were converting to Islam for social and religious acceptance.
“Why should they feel alienated? They have always been part of Hindu Dharma. We have to include them in all our rituals and convince them that they have been an integral part of the Santan Dharma,” the functionary told ThePrint.
Claiming that there have been several research works on the transgender community “and there is data available of them converting to Islam in search of social and religious acceptance”, the functionary said, “We need to get them back to their roots, which is Santan Dharma. We cannot allow people to leave Sanatan for such reasons”.
The inclusion of transgenders in Hindu society was also referred to by Sushil Gupta, general secretary of Sewa Bharti, who spoke of the epic Mahabharata, which he said mentions transgenders.
“The word Ardhanarishvara (half male half female) existed thousands of years ago, which means transgenders have always been there and society has to look at them with respect. They are part of us. We need to be inclusive, that is what seva or service stands for,” he told ThePrint.
Earlier in January, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chiefMohan Bhagwat, in an interview to RSS-affiliated magazine Organiser, had also said that the transgender community always existed and was part of our everyday life. They also had their own deity — Mahamandaleshwar, he had said.
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Havans and other assistance
While the Supreme Court had in a landmark verdict in 2014 recognised transgender as the third gender, media reports have highlighted that there has been little improvement in their social condition since, with the community continuing to battle stigma and negligence.
According to sources in Sewa Bharti, a social welfare organisation, a programme to provide medical, health and administrative assistance to the transgender community has also been drawn up.
The organisation also plans to arrange for havans, once and twice a month, at the residences or local officers or centres of the transgender community. “Havans will be organised to keep them attached to our Santan ritual and traditions,” said a second senior RSS functionary.
Though transgenders are being referred to as Shikhandi brothers and sisters by senior RSS functionaries for the time being, the organisation is still working on a name for the new administrative and health assistance programme for the community, said sources.
“We will decide on the name after consulting with the community. We are working for them and want them to be included in all decisions. We are trying to find a name around ‘Ardhnarishwar’, which has been depicted in our scriptures as God,” said Anamika Biswas, senior Sewa Bharti member, who is leading the organisation’s programme for the transgender community.
Talking about the difficulties and the humiliation the community faces routinely, Priya Kapoor, a transgender, who runs multiple NGOs for the community, told ThePrint, “We are almost treated like people who never existed. Nobody is bothered about us. Getting a transgender certificate makes us feel like an outcast. Senior officers harass us for official documents, they do not even want to meet us. My TG certificate was rejected thrice on flimsy or insubstantial grounds.”
Kapoor added: “Sewa Bharti members reached out to us, extended a helping hand and even included us in their rituals. We are grateful to them.”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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