Congress president Rahul Gandhi has appointed Apsara Reddy, one of India’s most well-known transgender journalists and activists, as national general secretary of All India Mahila Congress (AIMC).
The appointment of Apsara reddy was made by Gandhi in the presence of Lok Sabha MP and AIMC president Sushmita Dev.
On joining the Congress, Reddy said,”I come from a background where I was exposed to many prejudices and injustices quite early on. The hypocrisy and discrimination only motivated me to work against injustice. India is being governed by forces that place far more importance on religious identity than the rights and dignity of women.”
She said the Congress was truly a party that built India and sustained people for generations with good policy and a sensitive and inclusive approach in governance. “Rahul Gandhi ji’s commitment to fair representation of women, women-centric manifesto goals and dynamism are truly inspiring and I would be delighted to serve women across the country under his leadership,” she added.
As a transgender woman, Apsara has been involved in social activism through her college days and also has taken up high-profile cases of child rape and created a media sensation in Tamil Nadu. Her active voice on social issues and her brand of journalism initially saw her join the Bharatiya Janata Party after meeting its president Amit Shah. However, she quit the BJP within a month’s time saying that the party was regressive and had no place for free-thinking individuals.
Thereafter, she was offered the post of national spokesperson of AIADMK by former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa. Reddy continued in that role till she had differences with the faction-ridden AIADMK.
Being a woman, Reddy feels is a blessing and says that over 40 per cent of Indian women according to the Human Development Report’s Gender Inequality Index suffer abuse, neglect or violence at the hands of their husbands or family members. Girl child rape is at an all-time high. “To protect women from crimes and abuse we need to embolden their voices, frame policies that push for intervention and strengthen our social justice mechanisms,” she said.
Making a point about the Transgender Bill, Reddy said: “The BJP government has this patronising attitude towards us. We don’t need charity, we need assistance to bridge the inequality meted out to us for far too long. They use words like rehabilitation. What the community truly needs is education and equal opportunity. Most importantly political recognition such as this by the Congress goes to show that Rahul Gandhi ji looks at us as a talent-pool and a worthy skill-set rather than a fringe group that needs pity. This is a good starting point for mainstreaming.”
Laying out her plans as the newly appointed general secretary of Mahila Congress, she said: “I will meet with a cross-section of women to address issues pertaining to their rights. This coming election I will campaign vociferously against the fascist BJP dictatorship that drives a coloured agenda that reduces people to what they eat, how they pray and how they love!”
(UNI)
