Under the DMK regime of 2006-11, Tamil Nadu became the first State to constitute a welfare board for the transgender community. The party’s MP, Tiruchi N. Siva, has succeeded in getting the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014, his private member’s bill, passed in the Rajya Sabha.
“The government was very keen that I withdraw the bill. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Social Justice Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot sought to persuade me from moving it in the Rajya Sabha,” Mr. Siva, a fourth time MP, told The Hindu .
He said the government sought to negate his move through a voice vote, saying it was a convention not to allow a private bill.
Whenever a private bill is moved, the government would ensure its withdrawal by promising that it would introduce one on its own. However, it was his unrelenting stand that led to the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha.
“When there was a voice vote, I asked for a division and after that my move was unanimously supported,” said Mr. Siva. “I feel elated. I have done something for the transgender community,” he said.
DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin described the passage of the bill as “a historic day for transgenders in India.”
