Fear Mingles with Celebrations at 7th LGBT 'Pride Parade' in Guwahati

By: Rana Pratap Saikia

Casting away their inhibitions, nearly a thousand LGBT community members on Sunday took to the streets of Guwahati in a vibrant display of colours and beating of drums and other musical instruments. Holding aloft banners calling for tolerance, the gathering of Northeast Indian youths sent a clear message -- love, in all its shapes and forms, is here to stay.

Raising their voices to assert their rights in a strong collective appeal to the Governments, the crowd of the LGBTQ members and their allies waved the rainbow flag and chanted "azaadi" slogans, yearning for better and brighter days ahead.

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However, some who had joined the celebration of love and tolerance, opined that they were under pressure not to speak too loud lest their voices reach the wrong ears.

"There is a banner here that says 2,000 people have been excluded from the NRC, so I feel that both the NRC and the CAA are trans issues", said Suraj, a member of the transsexual community who was attending the Pride Parade in Guwahati for the second time. "Speaking right now to the media, I am scared. I don't know what will happen tomorrow. So, I don't really think I want to make a very strong comment. There is army here". Suraj's predicament is symbolic of the silencing of the marginalized communities who are gagged and not allowed to speak on "political issues."

“Let Love Rule, Not Modi ji” was a message displayed by Priyanka Bezbaruah, a young Guwahati student, showing dissent against the Government's policy to enact the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The young student told us that the imposition of the CAA on the people of Assam is "undemocratic".

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Dressed in an eclectic ensemble of clothes and leading the rallygoers in chants was Paragati, one of the organizers, who has been a mainstay in these parades in Guwahati. Pragati, who feels that the solidarity shown by the LGBTQ brethren is leading us towards a "revolution", feels that the Government should be more sympathetic towards the needs of the community that is still deprived of many many basic rights.

"We're beating the Dhol for you to wake up. It's an appeal to the government to see that we are queer and you need to be okay with it", Pragati told us, stressing on the need for the message of love and unity to reach the masses. "There are a lot of civil rights, and we need them, those are our rights you have curtailed forcefully, illegally, you need to give that back to us", she said, adding the people need to accept "from the heart."

Mriganka, one of the organizers, embracing Gandhian principles, said that the message adopted by the rallygoers is to fight hatred with love. "I guess in times like these a lot of hate is going around, I want people to stay together" Mriganka told us, adding that nobody should "compromise" on love.

Later, the colourful procession was seen taking the powerful message of love and inclusiveness around the iconic Dighali Pukhri in Guwahati. Today, the streets of Guwahati echoed with the yells and dhol of revolutionary love, love that says the following message: "Ishq ek inqalab hai, inqalab zinda hai aur zinda rahega".

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