Kuch kuch hota hai Rahul...

Shahrukh Khan said “agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho toh saari kayanaat tumhe usse milaane mein lag jaati hai”. And, Kajol told Shahrukh:  “kuch kuch hota hai Rahul, tum nahi samjoge”.

Nature listened, and life took me to  Delhi to meet my teenage crush, a Rahul. But, he is no ordinary Rahul. This was the dimpled darling of the nation — Rahul Gandhi. His team had reached out to me to check if I would like to attend a meeting with him. I have no plans of being the sarpanch of congress or any thing of that sort, but it was nice to meet my dimpled teenage crush in his pristine whites.

He was affable, kind and attentive to the rights of LGBTIQ persons. As queer persons, it is our responsibility to ensure that we speak to all political parties. Rahul’s team reached out and I grabbed the opportunity. Of course, Congress could have brought in change when they were in power, but just by clinging to the past we achieve nothing. We need to move forward and empower people in the present with your knowledge, wisdom and most importantly, familiarity. We are a bunch of invincible people and we shouldn’t get ‘invisibilised’ in any political party.

I remember how the Health  Minister from Congress — Ghulam Nabi Azaad — had once said that  homosexuality is a disease. There was an uproar in the LGBT community. I also called in sick at my workplace and said that I am gay and so cannot attend work. It was a fun campaign. In the same vein, I also need to acknowledge that Milind Deora was amongst the few people in Indian National Congress who  had written a piece about section 377 and in support of decriminalisation of homosexuality. Priya Dutt has forever been a supporter of LGBTIQ rights as well. Shashi Tharoor has gone a step ahead by attempting to get a bill passed against section 377, not once, but twice. The other’s became vociferous only after 2013.

Within BJP we have had voices like that of Arun Jaitley, who has been very supportive of decriminalising consensual homosexual sex. BJD  has been supportive and so has been the Left. While AAP included equal rights for LGBT persons in their Mumbai manifesto,  the same didnt appear in the national manifesto. We need political will to push 377 out of the nation or at least  decriminalise consensual sex between adults in private. We have to take a step in that direction.

The need is to talk to them about 377 and not just badger them for their inaction in the past. We need to be pragmatic and holistic in our approach. People change. I am even hopeful that the BJP and RSS would come out about their stance on homosexuality. There is a common perception that everyone in BJP is anti-homosexuality. That’s so untrue.  

Believe in the goodness. Always. Aiklaa?

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