“On paper, we have rights. In real life, nothing has changed.”

Gayathri, a 38 years old transgender woman in Bhopal, does not speak in the language of legal provisions. She speaks from lived reality.

For us, even today, finding a room on rent in the city is a struggle, she says. Daily life is marked by small but constant humiliations. From public toilets to classrooms, exclusion follows them everywhere. Access to education remains limited, safe sanitation spaces are rare, and basic services come wrapped in stigma.

“Wherever we stand, we have to first fight to prove we are human,”

Gayathri adds. Her words stand in sharp contrast to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which promises equality, non-discrimination, and dignity. The law prohibits discrimination in housing, education, employment, healthcare, and access to public places.

Yet, for Gayathri and her community, these rights remain distant which are written in documents, but missing from streets, homes, and institutions. India’s laws recognise them as third gender. Society often does not. And the system that should support the community still remains incomplete. 

The Republic’s Promise at the Margins

As India marked its 77th Republic Day on 26 January 2026, under the theme “150 Years of Vande Mataram” carrying the spirit of Swatantrata ka Mantra and Samriddhi ka Mantra, the nation once again turned to its Constitution, a document that promises justice, liberty, equality and fraternity to every citizen, including those whose identities have long been pushed to the margins. The words rang differently for many transgender citizens who are still waiting for those guarantees to reach their daily lives.

On the eve of Republic Day, President Droupadi Murmu spoke of India’s democratic journey and the idea of constitutional nationalism, a nationalism grounded in shared rights and equal belonging, ideals that resonate deeply with the struggles of the transgender community. 

The Constitution does not exclude them, Article 14 guarantees equality before the law, Article 15 prohibits discrimination, Article 16 promises equal opportunity in public employment, Article 19 protects freedom of expression and identity, and Article 21 ensures the right to life with dignity. These constitutional values were reaffirmed in the NALSA judgment of 2014, which recognised transgender persons as a third gender, and later in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which prohibits discrimination in housing, education, employment, healthcare and access to public spaces. 

The Voter Identity Gap: Democracy Without Access

The irony is especially sharp around National Voters Day. On National Voters’ Day (25 January), a day meant to celebrate universal franchise, members of the transgender community in Bhopal were raising their voices, not in celebration, but in protest. Their demand was basic yet profound: “the right to live with dignity and recognition”.

The gap between constitutional promise and lived reality becomes even more visible in the sphere of democratic participation. According to the 2011 Census, Madhya Pradesh is home to 29,597 transgender persons. Yet electoral data show a stark democratic exclusion. Only 1373 individuals in the state are registered as transgender or third-gender voters. In Bhopal district, the 2025 electoral roll lists just 168 transgender voters.

This gap reveals more than a bureaucratic issue, it signals how deeply documentation barriers, stigma, and administrative neglect prevent transgender citizens from accessing even their basic democratic right to vote.

Around Republic Day, while the country spoke of inclusive democracy, transgender persons in Bhopal were demanding recognition, voter IDs, and a functional Transgender Welfare Board that could address their concerns in a structured way. Their struggle is not separate from the Constitution; it is rooted in it. On a day when India celebrates its Republic, their voices remind us that constitutional values are truly honoured only when dignity, equality and recognition reach those who have waited the longest at the margins.

A Welfare Board Still Missing

For the past month, Anmol Samaj Sevi Sansthan in Bhopal has been conducting regular meetings under its “Sahas Project,” bringing together transgender persons, legal advisors, and community leaders. These discussions revolve around one long-pending demand: the formation of a dedicated Transgender Welfare Board in Madhya Pradesh.

On 31 January, a Community Advisory Board meeting was held where this demand was raised once again. Participants stressed that without a formal welfare board, transgender persons have no structured platform to address issues related to housing, employment, healthcare, legal protection, and access to government schemes.

The demand is rooted in the Supreme Court’s 2014 NALSA judgment, which directed all states to create welfare mechanisms for transgender persons. While several states have formed such boards, Madhya Pradesh’s process has been slow and uncertain.

The formation of a state-level transgender board, a demand that has been growing louder, has not yet materialised. It is noteworthy that in 2020, a comprehensive policy for the protection and upliftment of transgender individuals, prepared by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis, was submitted to the Social Justice Department. This policy clearly stipulated the formation of a state-level transgender welfare board, which was also approved by the cabinet of the then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2022. Despite this, the state-level transgender welfare board has not yet been constituted, and the relevant files remain pending in the ministry.

According to the Social Justice Department, district-level transgender welfare boards have been formed in 47 out of the state's 55 districts, while the process is underway in the remaining districts. However, experts say that until a strong and active state-level board is formed, the district-level boards will not be able to function effectively. The functioning of the district-level transgender welfare board constituted in the capital city of Bhopal has also been questioned in the past, further highlighting the need for a state-level board.

Without a welfare board, policies remain scattered, and transgender persons are left to navigate discrimination alone.

For many transgender persons in 2026, access to employment remains uncertain, healthcare is often discriminatory, housing is denied, and public spaces can become sites of humiliation rather than belonging. Legal recognition exists, but social acceptance and institutional support often do not.

Gayathri’s words echo as a quiet but powerful reminder: Rights written in law mean little if they are not felt in the streets, homes, schools, and workplaces of the people they are meant to protect.