Eunuch runs for mayorship of Indian town

November 18, 2000
Web posted at: 7:33 AM HKT (2333 GMT)

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) -- An eunuch has joined the election race to become mayor of a northern Indian town, marking another step towards social acceptance for a community that has been reviled for centuries.

No political party was willing to support 45-year-old Asha Devi for the civic polls in Uttar Pradesh state's Gorakhpur, so she plunged into the hustings against mainstream groups as an independent.

Devi has been joined in her campaign by a fellow eunuch who won a by-election earlier this year to become a member of the legislative assembly in neighboring Madhya Pradesh.

Eunuchs, known as "hijra," are men who were castrated at puberty. There are no official estimates of India's hijra population, but they are said to number around 500,000.

In India, they mostly earn a living by collecting cash "gifts" from people on auspicious occasions.

Groups of hijra dressed in colorful saris with heavy make-up and gaudy jewellery often turn up uninvited at wedding parties and leave only after receiving generous cash donations.

The community's struggle for social acceptance has begun to pay off in recent years, most notably with the election victory of Shabnam Mausi -- "aunt" Shabnam -- in Madhya Pradesh.

There was even a fashion parade in the Uttar Pradesh capital of Lucknow this week during which six eunuchs strutted their stuff on a catwalk.

"My success in Madhya Pradesh has boosted the morale of our community," Mausi said. "Now this trend is here to stay and you can see that we are being taken seriously now."

Devi has been going from door to door in Gorakhpur, promising voters that she will eradicate corruption from civic offices and provide good roads, drainage and clean drinking water to the people of this city.

She has received unsolicited support from various social organizations, including the local Band-Masters Association, which has extended the services of its musical troupe for her campaign.

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