Sunday 19th July, 2026, 5-7 pm Kolkata time – panel discussion (Bangla and English)
2-4 pm Berlin time, live-streaming, PA58, Berlin-Wedding
part of the event Queer Bodies – Trans*Ecologies – Anti-Fascism
Panelists:
- Kaustav Bakshi (Professor of English, Center of Advanced Studies, Jadavpur University)
- Suprava Sarkar (Trans Rights Activist and Petitioner against the Trans Bill at the Supreme Court of India)
- Sabyasachi Mukherjee (Lawyer and Queer Activist)
- Anwesha (PhD Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, works on Hijra community)
- Sudeb Subhana (Pleqsus India Foundation, Trans GSM advocacy group)
- Aniruddha Dutta (Associate Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies, Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Iowa, USA).
“May the youth be respected in desired conjugality”: Writing in the late 19th Century, Tagore portrayed gender-dystopia thorough his dance drama Chitrangada, the princess of Manipur, who challenged her upbringing and gender-boundaries by transgressing not only her father’s wish to be the ‘prince-heir’, but also gendered ideology to be the ‘perfect woman’ to seduce the celibate Arjun at the end. But what does it mean to rethink such radical subjectivity and construction a new trans-queer subjective position in BJP-ruled Bengal?
The coming of RSS-BJP, with all the destructive mayhem it has unleashed within a month of winning the last election, marked an ‘event’ for Bengal society as whole- unprecedented in its past- from Congress, Left Front and TMC regimes. From eviction of small railway hawkers with the ultimate aim to handover everything to the Big-Capital, to constructing a Hindu identity in the light of RSS vision- militaristic, armed, sword-holding, macho, shinning- decoupled from both local traditions and universality- the RSS-BJP has successfully constructed a Hindutva-Hegemonic consensus among the so called ‘lower caste’, ‘untouchables’ and ‘tribal communities’- historically thought to be outside the Hindu fold. In addition to this, The RSS-BJP government has also introduced a draconian Trans-Bill, which castigates the trans-queer communities and strips off their right to self-determination.
In June, after its frivolous stint to construct a ‘modest and covered’ domesticate feminine image, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) restored the thousand-years-old original iconic image of the ‘Dancing Girl’ from Indus Valley Civilisation under severe criticism. This cannot be seen just a separate incident- the RSS vision of gender is coloured by its Brahminical Neo-Fascist conception of ‘domesticated femininity’. It is coupled with dehumanization of Muslim women, as children-breeding machine, to suggesting Hindu women to produce more children to ‘increase’ Hindu population.
How should the Trans-Queer people of Bengal respond to such evil manuscript of the regressive regime? The Trans-bill in particular unleashes a blow to the limited advances in the queer-movement in India and the achievements of the past decades. The bill now invokes ‘medical jurisdiction’ in determining one’s own identity. Needless to say, we must find an answer in the social customs and performative traditions- from Chou, Jatra, Shong, Boishnob tradition to inception of modern theatre under the aegis of Russian polymath Levedef, who faced immense hostilities from the Hindu conservatives of late Eighteenth century for bringing women to the stage.
Despite this sudden spiralling and regressive ‘reactivation’ of sedimented conservative practices, Bengal must live upto its progressive credentials – from intellectual movements under the Brahmo Samaj, to Gender right movements- Kolkata organised the first pride in entire South Asia- while also standing in the progressive ‘chain of equivalence’ and resistance movements already brewing in the state. We had also witnessed how the community reclaimed its space during the ‘Abhaya movement’ against the heinous rape and murdering of a doctor at the R.J Kar Hospital.
This panel discussion will dive into the past of the body-politics of Trans-Queer community in Bengal, to anticipate a new future while highlighting the difficulties faced by the queer communities and especially by the Bengali Muslim queer individuals- thrice subordinate by the Hindutva machinery. It will also bring into question the legitimacy-building queer narrative emanating within the Hindutva fold by invoking the ‘Hindu Tradition’ on the one hand and the Ultra-Right’s dehumanization of queer self-imagery, heckling and denigration of Trans bodies, branding it as deviation and ‘mental-decease’ of the ‘Left’. The Panel will also question any residue of essentialism, which might obstruct the building of queer-subjectivity in the progressive clique.
Sagnique Banerjee, together with Tanvir Alim and Antke A. Engel
This event has been organized as part of the iQt’s 20th anniversary under the title of Queer Cohabitations, contributing to July 19th day-long program Queer Bodies, Trans*Ecologies, Anti-Fascism and iQt’s global web (local events – planetary networking).
You might also be interested in the transnational initiative: No Sex Entry at Birth! > Download (as pdf)