Iss baar Rahul sarkar, say Chandrapur's transgenders

A large number of transgenders attended the rally as well, shouting 'Hum Priyanka didi ke liye aaye hain'.

Soaring temperatures or an hour's delay could not keep the crowds away from Congress president Rahul Gandhi's poll rally in Chandrapur on Wednesday. Amongst the thousands of supporters, a large number of transgenders attended the rally as well, shouting 'Hum Priyanka didi ke liye aaye hain' (we're here for Priyanka didi). The group was hopeful of the Congress party's win.

The group of transgenders who had come for the meeting assured they would vote for the Congress in the upcoming general elections. Some even expressed hope at getting more opportunities once Congress comes to power. One of the transgender women said, "We're confident that once the Congress government comes into power, it will be considerate about our community and also give us equal rights and opportunities to help in our socio-economic upliftment."

Adequate arrangements ensured there was no chaos at the ground, where around 80,000 Congress supporters had gathered to see Gandhi. Pics/Suresh Karkera

The local transgenders have been upset with the district administration for taking away their job of running and maintaining a public toilet. Officials within the Chandrapur district administration said that a year ago, as an experiment, the district collector had come up with the concept of allowing transgenders to run a pay and use public toilet.

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The toilet was constructed near the collector's office in Chandrapur. However, they were able to keep it up and running for only four months, as locals aren't accustomed to paying for using public urinals or toilets. Moreover, toilets were available free of charge at government offices located right opposite the
one managed by the transgender community.

The public toilet near the collector's office which was being run by transgenders, but had to be shut down

Unemployment looms

Apart from the transgenders, several other Congress supporters gathered at the event agitated over various issues they were facing in Chandrapur district, where they claim no development has happened in the last five years. Factories in the area have also shut down, leading to unemployment.

Premhari Shende, 71, a resident of Chandrapur, said, "Instead of employing local youth for any construction or industrial work, migrant workers are given a priority. No fresh recruitment has happened in these factories in the last few years. Also, nearly 90 per cent of the farmers cultivating cotton, toor, moong, etc are under debt due to water scarcity and no irrigation projects. Nothing has happened in the BJP's regime and hence, we are hopeful that this time, Chandrapur will have Rahul sarkar and not Modi sarkar."

Suraj Kannur, district general secretary, youth Congress in Chandrapur concurred regarding the unemployment, "Nearly 60 per cent of factories in MIDC area have either shut down or are on the verge of shutting down. As per the latest data, nearly 1.35 lakh youths have registered themselves in the employment office, but they have no gotten any job. Nearly 3 lakh skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled people are jobless in the district. People need jobs and irrigation facilities should be made available for farmers, but both are missing"

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'No development here'

Echoing similar concerns about the current administration, Harish Kottawar, 28, youth Congress district president said, "BJP had two ministers hailing from Chandrapur, Hansraj Ahir, who is the Minister of State for Home Affairs, and Sudhir Mungantiwar, the state finance and forest minister. But neither of them have done any development in their own district in the last five years."

According to the youth Congress workers, the only work Ahir has done in the area is make provisions to stop three to four trains at the Chandrapur railway station. Kumar added, "We are confident that this election, Congress candidate Dhanorkar Warora (contesting against Ahir) will win with a larger margin of votes."

No chaos thanks to bandobast

Thanks to effective crowd management, there was no chaos despite the unexpected number of attendees at the ground, which can only accommodate 40,000. Dr Maheshwar Reddy, district superintendent of police said, "We had made adequate police arrangement for Rahul's visit and no untoward incident was reported. We are now fully geared up to ensure free and fair polling is conducted in the district on April 11." The polling authorities are preparing in full swing too. District collector Dr Kunal Khemnar said, "We have over 9,000 polling staff on duty. We are anticipating a large turnout for this election, and all preparations are at in the final stages of completion."

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