. @Manekagandhibjp We are #NotOtherOnes or your pets. We are equally human, equal citizens. APOLOGIZE to the entire transgender community NOW, for your extremely derogatory, insenstive reference and gesture. This does not behove a Cabinet Minister! Appalled, Anguished, Ashamed ! pic.twitter.com/v9uPwm8VEj
— Meera Sanghamitra (@meeracomposes) July 27, 2018
Further, her comment on sex workers also drew flak from The National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW).
“I am going to be wicked….During the consultation on the Bill, we received comments from two groups – one representing the victims and the other representing sex workers. Dr. Tharoor represents the second group,” she had said at Parliament, with many laughing.
In response, NNSW said that sex workers are not a source of entertainment or snide laughter for MPs.
“Do we not have the right to be heard by Ministers, Governments and Members of Parliament? Are we according to you so reprehensible that it is okay to make us the butt of your humour at the cost of dignity? Are we not women, Madam Minister?” they said in their statement.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Trafficking Coalition has demanded an apology from her. According to The News Minute, they want Maneka to withdraw her “unparliamentarily and crude remarks about women and transgender individuals”.
So far, Maneka has apologised for using the words “other persons” but has not said anything else with respect to the apology demanded.
I sincerely apologise for using the term ‘other ones’ during the debate on the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, in Lok Sabha. I did not ‘snigger’, I was embarrassed at my own lack of knowledge.
— Maneka Gandhi (@Manekagandhibjp) July 30, 2018
I was not aware of the official terminology for the transgender community. In future, all official communication will use the term TGs. I would like to assure that the #AntiTraffickingBill2018 is gender neutral and provides protection to the aggrieved.
— Maneka Gandhi (@Manekagandhibjp) July 30, 2018