Pune: Jalgaon resident Shameebha Bhanudas Patil , 38, is the lone transgender in the state who will contest the poll. She is the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate from Raver constituency in Jalgaon district. "After working for our community and other neglected groups for 15 years, I realised that raising our voices on the streets will not help.
We require representation in the assembly, hence I decided to contest," Shameebha told TOI. Born in a middle-class family in Kingaon village of Jalgaon, Shameebha took 28 years to make her identity public. She said, "During my school and college days, I was introverted.
Classmates would bully and taunt me and I had no courage to fight back. I would stay alone and read books, and it helped me to improve my understanding of the world. I started working with social organisations to help the adivasis and other marginalised communities.
This exposure gave me the courage to come out in public and accept myself as a transgender." Shameebha visits institutes as guest faculty where she talks about transgender rights . "The lectures are a source of income and I depend on crowdfunding as I am not employed," she said.
She added that when there is little representation for women in most political parties, the plight of the transgender community can only be imagined. "Therefore, I chose to go with VBA. I want to remain in politics for the empowerment of my community.
Issues of the adivasis and equal opportunities for every community are on my a.