Several activists, who attended a public hearing on the transgender bill here on Sunday, were overcome with emotion while speaking about its exclusionary and restrictive nature.

At the event organised by Rachnatmak Congress, the party’s civil society outreach cell, activists slammed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, that restricted transgender identity and benefits to those medically certified as transpersons — a departure from the self-identification regime currently in force.

Nikunj Jain, a transman and activist from Indore, said: “It took three-four years for us to get a transgender card. Even after self-declaration, we were asked for medical documents to see if we had undergone surgery or not. For four-five years, we had to make the authorities aware of the law. We formed a district welfare board. It was the first one in Madhya Pradesh. We used to go to the police protection cell for advocacy. Suddenly, our years of hard work have gone down the drain.”

He cited the example of a transwoman from Bihar who had sought a Section 7 certificate to undergo surgery. Under Section 7 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020, district magistrates issue a revised certificate of identity to the applicant seeking gender change.

“She was not given the medical certificate. Instead, her hormone therapy and other documents that she was told to submit were taken and cancelled. In Pithampur (Madhya Pradesh), two trans women were sacked from their jobs. Once the bill becomes law, where will we go?” Jain said.

Grace Banu, a Dalit trans activist from Tamil Nadu, described the medical certification system introduced in Tamil Nadu in 2009, which she and others compelled the government to change.

“They would say okay, you are Aravani (a Tamil word for a transgender person that Banu said was archaic), we are going to see you… remove your clothes in front of 14 medical practitioners, not a doctor. In front of them, we removed our clothes and they touched our private parts and asked intimate questions,” Banu said.

“We are appointed Home Guard or traffic wardens. Welfare schemes don’t empower my community, rights do,” Banu added.

The activists were joined by Opposition leaders.

NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande termed the transgender bill “illegal, unconstitutional, illogical”. “It is shameful for the government to come up with such a bill which has no truth, which has no benefit.... The Prime Minister says that it is a living shield for transgender persons. He says at the G7 that we must protect the dignity and self-respect of transgender persons. But what is this bill? It takes away that dignity. It takes away that self-respect.”

Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury advocated a rational and practical approach. “It is an uphill task. Don’t dream that something will happen overnight, that there will be an uproar in Parliament, people like us will fight, and the law will go away. We have to fight it collectively.”

RJD MP Manoj Jha accused the government of being “regressive”. “Every action of this government tells you that they are taking a reverse regressive bus journey and that the bus is without a driver and there is no signal on the road... It (the bill) should be consigned to the dustbin,” he said.

CPM MP John Brittas said: “In UP, Rajasthan or Chhattisgarh, someone can be booked under draconian sections for sending Eid Mubarak or Merry Christmas messages. In Bareilly, two people were jailed for six months for keeping a Bible in their house.”