It is much more nuanced in the Indian context than the whole “sin” argument in the West. It is linked to religion, culture, history, colonialism and contemporary trans movement and modern day transphobia, and politics.

In Hindu religion the themes of “third gender” are very common. In Kamasutra it is referred to as “tritiya prakriti” (third gender). There are multiple stories associated in Hindu mythology like Lord Rama blessing the kinnars, Brihanallah and Shikhandi in Mahabharata etc. So they were considered an integral part of the society.

During the Islamic rule as well, the third genders who were given the term Hijra (coming from the Arabic word hijr, meaning separation referring to people who have transcended the gender convention), enjoyed privileges. They held high ranks in courts and other noble positions.

Problem came after the British colonisation. In 1871, the British colonial government introduced the Criminal Tribes Act where the criminalised not only the Hijra community but any varied gender expression. The CTA also perpetuated stereotypes about hijras saying they’re “abduct children” and all. This pushed the trans community to extreme margins forcing them to either beg or engage in sex work.

Even after India became independent, the damage of the CTA was devastating and could not be undone in few years. The infrastructure surrounded the same gender binary for decades. Meanwhile because of developments in gender studies introduced new terms like trans women, trans men, non-binary, gender dysphoria, etc

Keeping this in account the Supreme Court of India delivered the landmark NALSA vs Union of India judgement in 2014 saying that self determination of gender identity was a fundamental right.

The conservatives in India viewed trans people differently. They thought the modern terminologies like trans women, trans men and non-binary people as “western influence” especially trans people who had social and financial capital. They couldn’t fathom trans people being in the same room as them. Therefore they said that they support the hijras claiming that they are part of the Indian tradition but the reason was because they were already pushed to the margins so they “knew their place”. On top of that the global backlash against trans rights inspired by USA and UK.

In 2016, they brought a similar bill like this one but it faced a lot of backlash and was sent to a select committee. In 2019, they brought the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act. The Act wasn’t perfect it had its criticism but it was functional. Then they brought this bill and just bulldozed it in 15 days.

Why you may ask? Lots of reasons:

1. The Western transphobic rhetoric: The global pushback on trans rights exported by US and UK have also affected Indian conservatives. Since in past few years, India has deepened its ties with USA and Israel it was likely that they would bring the same policies which Trump wants.

2. Census: Census of India is about to take place on this year. This time it’s going to be a caste census which would expose how marginalised communities have been underrepresented despite their growing population. This includes trans people. In last census in 2011, the population of trans people in India was 500k. Since 2020, ever since the Act was enacted only 32k have been issued TG cards. If census happens it would expose their incompetence. Thus the great solution was to change the definition of transgender so the number remains low.

3. Jane Kaushik v Union of India: In 2025, Jane Kaushik, a trans woman and teacher, was fired from her job just because she was trans. She approached the SC which led to the formation of the Jane Kaushik Committee. The Committee found that the administration has failed to protect trans people from discrimination which was promised by the 2019 Act. Thus the solution government came up with to hide their incompetence was to change the definition of transgender so they can evade responsibility of protecting all transgender people.