In a state where the status of a politician is measured by the number of gun-totting security personnel around him, the craze for weapons among them is not uncommon but now even eunuchs have taken to it. For the first time, a eunuch, who is an active BSP worker, from a district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, has been granted an arms license.
“For me it is both for status symbol as well as for security,” said 40-year old Shweta alias Surendra, who has been granted a license for a revolver by the district administration of Mau, about 100 kilometres from Varanasi. “I, like other politicians, need security,” Shweta, who is also the chief of the district kinnar (eunuch) association told Deccan Herald. District magistrate P Guruprasad said that there is no law which prevents a kinnar from applying for an arms license.
Shweta had contested Lok Sabha elections from Ballia parliamentary constituency as an independent candidate in 2004 against former prime minister Chandrashekhar and had secured 27,000 votes.
This time she’s contesting for BSP and has written to UP chief minister Mayawati seeking nomination for next year’s parliamentary elections. “Being deprived ‘himself’, only a kinnar can understand the plight of the deprived ones,” she says. It is very easy for a kinnar to convince the people and so she could prove to be a ‘good vote catcher’ for BSP, she claims.
‘Blue-eyed’ fan
Shweta is an ardent fan of Mayawati and always wears blue (BSP’s colour) sarees. Shweta is hopeful of making it to the Lok Sabha if she gets the BSP ticket. “There are thousands of kinnars in the state who will canvass for me and ensure my victory,” she affirmed.
She also wants to secure an all-India arms license. “I have applied to the concerned authorities for extending the limits of my arms license,” she said.
Kinnars have, in the past, taken part in politics in the state. A kinnar had been elected mayor of Gorakhpur city defeating nominees of major political parties.