'Brahmanical concept': CPI(M) asks Centre to withdraw transgender rights amendment bill

New Delhi: CPI(M) on Saturday asked the Modi government to withdraw a Bill seeking to amend the law on transgender rights by disallowing  self-determination of gender identity, claiming it is aimed imposing a "rigid, Brahmanical concept of gender and social order" and "systematically" dismantle the limited protections given to them.

The government introduced the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 in Lok Sabha on Friday, omitting the provision for recognition of self-perceived gender identities and substituting  it with a definition requiring certification by a medical board headed by a Chief Medical Officer. 

In a statement, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member said, "the BJP government, guided by the Hindutva worldview, has long sought to impose a rigid, Brahmanical concept of gender and social order. This Bill reflects the regressive Manuvadi outlook, which denies individuals the right to define themselves."

This "regressive mindset" also finds reflection in the stand of the Union government in the Supreme Court where it affirmed that it is not inclined to lift the discriminatory ban on blood donations made by trans-persons, it said.

It also said this "retrograde" amendment "systematically dismantles the limited protections" enshrined in the Act passed in 2019 and replaces them with a "regime of state surveillance, medical gatekeeping, and bureaucratic control". 

This Bill is an "assault on the constitutional rights" of transgender persons and must be withdrawn forthwith, the party said, adding legislations that impact the rights and lives of any particular community should not be introduced without prior consultations with the stakeholders. 

The CPI(M) said the proposed changes in the law "fundamentally negate" the principle of self-determination of gender identity affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2014 but Clause 2 of the new Bill omits recognition of self-perceived gender identities while making changes in the definition of who is a transgender. It also requires certification by a medical board headed by a Chief Medical Officer.

It said Section 4 further empowers the District Magistrate to scrutinise these certificates before issuing identity documents, subjecting transgender persons to invasive bureaucratic and medical oversight, which border on vigilantism. These provisions directly violate the fundamental rights to privacy, dignity and personal autonomy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, the statement said.

It also said the definition of transgender persons has been "drastically narrowed" as the 2019 Act recognised transmen, transwomen, gender-queers and persons with diverse gender identities. However, it said the amended definition restricts recognition primarily to specific socio-cultural communities and persons with intersex variations. 

"The Statement of Objects and Reasons explicitly disavows any intention to protect persons with self-perceived gender identities. This deliberate exclusion erases trans men, non-binary persons and gender-fluid individuals from the ambit of legal protection entirely," it added.