Dr Aqsa Sheikh a transgender activist and a medical professional filed a complaint with National Humans Rights Commission against the BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra under the Transgender Act 2019, Chapter 8 Clause 18D. This happened following Sambit Patra’s remark on Aaj Tak – A Hindi National News Channel.
Sambit Patra quoted Bal Thackeray and said, ‘Sonia Gandhi ke saamne sirf hijde jhukte hain’. This statement solicited huge amount of outrage from the queer community across the country. Dr. Aqsa says that this statement has the potential to cause mental trauma to a lot of people belonging to the Hijda community.
Just saying this on the National Television wasn’t enough where he repeated the same statement thrice and then tweeted the same along with a video clip of himself repeating the statement again and again. In the end he even mentioned that this statement by Bal Thackeray makes him a true Hindu Hriday Samrat.
It is an important point to note that Sambit Patra isn’t the first one from BJP to use similar homophobic slurs and statements in public domain. Senior BJP leaders such as Sudhir Mungantiwar and Subramanian Swamy have already been in the headlines for their outrageous statements. Where Swamy even stated upon the abolition of article 377 that, ‘Homosexuality isn’t a normal thing, it cannot be celebrated as it is against Hindutva’.
