In conversation with Asmita Sarkar; The first LGBT candidate to contest student elections

Asmita Sarkar who is associated with CPI(ML) backed student organisation AISA has been declared as the candidate for the post of Assistant General Secretary at the Arts faculty In Jadavpur University, Kolkata in the upcoming students’ union elections.She is the first lesbian candidate to contest student elections in West Bengal. She is a second-year student of sociology and Vice-President of Jadavpur University unit of All India Students Association(AISA).She aims to fight for rights of homosexuals.

Here is an interview of Asmita taken by Meghna Mehra of Aapka Times
From Burdwan to First LGBT Students’ candidate, how was your journey?
I came out when I was 12, it was very easy to come out that well from the place I belong to. Initially, along with the school level, I never opened up due to the structure of the society and people out there, in a small town.But as soon as I came to Kolkata, I found a lot of people like me, supporting me, and then with the passage of time in the first year of year of JU, I opened myself as a lesbian.
Tell us about your realisation as a member of LGBT community
The realisation was natural to me, I felt that I am inclined towards girls and not guys. According to the society, I could never open up or Frankly tell people about my sexuality.
As a students’ leader, what do you think will be your biggest challenge?
Challenges are the people, the people who think that homosexuality is abnormal would be the hindrances, for whom it would be necessary to make up their mind that homosexuality is not against nature.
In a society of heteronormativity, what are the struggles according to you that LGBTQ+A community have?
They are pointed out as unnatural.They undergo several verbal cases of abuse. .And so on
How was your organisation’s reaction to your realisation of sexuality?
They were very supportive and they gave me the platform to struggle.
What keeps you motivated?
I myself keep my mind motivated against the heteronormativity Of the society. And certain other people who belong to the community even inspire and motivate me.
What will you take as first step for LGBT community after winning elections?
I would try to prepare regular interactive seasons for the Lgbt community within the campus.
In the admission form, there must not be any distinction if the person belongs to the third gender. There must be a transgender cell for the transgenders within the campus.And would try to organise mass movements within and outside the campus to scrap 377.
If there is one message that you want to give to Students’ community, what it would be?
The one message is that your sexuality cannot be dictated by BJP RSS, ManuSmriti or the Society, it is your own part which you should love.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *