New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday said the BJP government’s Transgender Persons Amendment Bill is a “brazen attack” on the constitutional rights and identity of transgender people, adding that the Congress party unequivocally opposes the legislation.

Taking to the social media platform ‘X’, Gandhi stated that the proposed Bill undermines the fundamental rights of transgender individuals. He said that the “regressive” legislation strips transgender persons of their right to self-identify, which he noted is in violation of a Supreme Court judgment.

He further alleged that the Bill erases the diverse cultural identities of transgender communities across India and forces individuals to undergo “dehumanising examinations” by a medical board. Gandhi also criticised provisions that, according to him, introduce criminal penalties and surveillance without adequate safeguards.

The Congress leader claimed that the government failed to consult the transgender community before introducing the Bill, and accused it of bringing legislation that stigmatises rather than protects them.

Emphasising constitutional values, Gandhi said the Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to life, liberty, identity, and dignity, and alleged that the government is undermining these principles.

The Bill, recently introduced in Parliament by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar, has drawn criticism for allegedly narrowing the definition of transgender identity and proposing additional procedural requirements for legal recognition.

On March 21, members of Kolkata’s queer community, along with legal experts, raised serious concerns over the proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, alleging that it could restrict the right to self-identification for transgender persons.

Activists and legal experts argue that the proposed legislation marks a departure from the landmark National Legal Services Authority vs. Union of India (NALSA) verdict, in which the Supreme Court upheld the right to self-identify one’s gender without mandatory medical intervention.

They have also raised the question as to why it is always the “transgender” community who have to furnish evidence of their gender identity, unlike the “male” and “female”.

IANS spoke to a cross-section of Queer rights activists and legal experts, and all of them explained why the new bill is against the basic identity rights and their proclamations.

According to nationally acclaimed Queer writer and rights activist Pawan Dhall, the new Bill aims to narrow the definition of a transgender person and calls for medical proof for legal recognition of that identity.

Dhall, a former journalist and one of the founders of Kolkata’s annual LGBTQ Pride Walk, which is South-East Asia’s oldest pride walk, had said that the new Bill proposes to take away the free will of the members of the transgender community and put them under a screening in the name of producing medical proof for their legal recognition.

He had said that the new Bill is totally contrary to the NALSA verdict of 2014 and the Supreme Court’s clear observation that every single citizen of India, male, female, and others, has the option of deciding his or her own gender identity.

–IANS

jk/dpb