One of the country’s largest meeting of hijras was held at the Dadar’s Shjvaji Mandir on September 20th by the city’s Hijra NGO, Kinnar Ma Trust. Over a 1,500 hijras packed the auditorium silently listening to DG Samir Wankhede, who urged the hijra community to help fight the drug menace in the city.
About The Demand Made By Hijras
The hijras, led by their president Salma Khan demanded that the government fulfil its promises of giving them equality and freedom to determine their gender as given in the NALSA judgment of 2014, much before the reading down of Section 377 of the IPC on the criminalization of same sex relations.
Political leaders from the Congress and conspicious of their presence and the owner of Shivaji Mandir himself was present to “greet” the hijra NGO on its 10th anniversary stressing that the hall would be given to all the people without discrimination.
About The Session
The session started with Vande Mataram and gave a history of how the hijras had started organising themselves into a recognized NGO due to the constant harassment and violence against them by the police and local goons. Salma gave a vivid account of intersexed and transgender being thrown out of their houses by their parents after being rejected at a young age. Such children did not have recourse to any help or support except from hijra “gharanas” who looked after them and nurtured them through education and shelter from the violence of parents, and mainstream society. In Mumbai, most lived in slums as nobody gave them houses on rent
In 2015, UNDP had tried to do a census of hijras in the country and came up with a paltry 70,000 to 80,000 hijras but it turned out these were only hijras on the roads and at traffic signals where Salma Khan and their groups said they were more than five lakhs at a minimum. They were a reviled and rejected population who were not even educated as they were driven out of homes and schools. Salma herself had educated herself from private tuitions and books despite spending her days begging (mangtee) at traffic signals before she decuded to organize her community.
She said they had succeeded in getting a plot for building an old age home for older hijras who had no support. They also offered an office by the BMC where they had trained.
Salma and others reported how they had distributed ration to hijras during outreach workers distributing condoms and pamphlets warning them against drugs, HIV & STIs
Salma herself thanked the Humsafar Trust for training her in working with the community and keeping records and accounts. Other hijras like Shreya said they had distributed food on a monthly basis to over 8,000 hijra households in the city and offered medical help and other assistance during the COVID crisis.
Their next step was to stop police violence and educate their community about their basic rights to the decent life. They also wanted their members to get recruited as police constables and into the bureaucracy. All the politicians including and Wankhede promised them every help through the State Transgender Board, which is still not a statutory body.
The event was marked by lots of fabulous dancing by Salma’s younger hijras and concluded by the incredible dancing by bar dancer Simran as a concluding item. The hijras were self financed for this event as each hijra coughed up Rs. 300 as an entry fee.
