A year on, the country's first transgender UP chairman serves people with humility

On a late March afternoon, Nazrul Islam Ritu returned to her home at Dadpara village, Kaliganj upazila after an exhausting day at work. 

"You cannot meet all expectations of the people; the government itself cannot fulfil the expectations of the people, and I am merely a union parishad chairman," said Ritu, the country's first transgender person to serve in the role. 

In her first stint in politics, Ritu had to understand the intricacies of her new role as the chairman of Trilochanpur union parishad in Jhenaidah, a southwestern district of the country approximately 200 kilometres away from the capital. 

Ritu said that in the beginning, some union parishad members tried to exercise their influence over her decisions. For instance, when the union parishad secured certain funds for development work, such as building a road in a village, some members tried to shanghai the contract into their own hands. 

However, Ritu was a quick learner and understood how the system works. Soon, members found it difficult to deceive her or convince the UP chairman to side with their agenda. And now, Ritu continues to keep a firm grip on the decision-making process in the union parishad — the lowest level of the three-tier local government bodies in Bangladesh. 

Ritu sent the members a clear message: You have come to power to serve the people; there is no scope for corruption. "At one point, some members complained to the local member of the parliament, and then the MP asked me to settle the issue," said Ritu.

"The MP told me that as members, they want to get some 'facilities'. I told him [the MP] that they will certainly get the 'facilities,' but we cannot exploit the people whom we serve. I cannot do it," Ritu recalled.  

Humble beginnings

When Ritu became aware of her sexual identity at the age of 10, she left her hometown for Dhaka. In the early 1990s, Ritu began to live with a "Hijra" community in the capital's Demra area. Like other members of the community, Ritu too used to make a living by collecting money from different shops, households and traffic intersections in the city.  

However, Ritu used to visit their hometown every month and make contributions to various social work in the locality. The contributions soon made Ritu popular among the people in her village, and later throughout the union parishad. 

Ritu helped construct mosques, renovate Hindu temples, contribute to the construction of roads and also assist the less privileged people in the area.

"People always encouraged me to run for the union parishad elections. At first, I said I don't want to get involved in politics, but then I gave it a second thought and realised I would be able to serve my people better as a UP chairman," said Ritu. 

Ritu did not run for election on behalf of any political party but rather as an independent. Out of around 20,000 voters in the union parishad, she won the election with nearly 50% of the votes.  

Once elected, Ritu immediately got down to work. According to them, the most important work in the union parishad is to improve the roads as most in the area are unpaved. "If the roads are improved, farmers can easily move their harvest across the area. Unpaved roads are also difficult to walk on in the monsoon," they said. 

Like other politicians, Ritu also pledged to improve the condition of the roads, mosques and madrasas during her election campaign. But meeting all expectations of the people has been an uphill battle due to a shortage of funds. "The government should give more importance to rural areas in terms of funding, then I will be able to provide good service to the people," said Ritu. 

Despite the challenges, under Ritu, 20 rural roads have been improved through brick soling, including a 400-feet road in Kalukhali village, a 500-feet road in Banuria village and a 1,500 feet road with brick in the Beledanga village.    

Acceptance

And despite some initial hurdles, Ritu has been able to settle into her new position.

Ritu said that over the last year and three months, her transgender identity has not posed any problems. 

"If I do not understand anything, [union parishad] members help me out," said Ritu. "And when members do not understand anything, I help them out. I am proud to be working more than the previous chairman, working hard for the poor rural people."  

Jahangir Hossain, a member of the union parishad said that he has no problem working with a transgender chairman. "I don't feel any problem working with her as she works for the people earnestly," he added.

Arif Shobhan, a villager of the Trilochanpur village, said "Ritu cares for the people of the area and listens to people's needs and she still helps people with money. She told people to come to the union parishad if they need something," he added. 

Ritu does not care what gender pronouns people use to address her either. "Some call me 'bhai' [brother] and some call me 'apa' [sister]," she said, "it does not bother me."

Transgender people in Bangladesh have had the right to vote since 2009. And in November 2013, the government officially recognised transgender people with the "third gender" label. 

They will also be able to contest in the next national parliamentary elections as the government has amended the "gender" identity section in the nomination papers of the election management rules to add "hijra" alongside the "male" and "female" categories. 

Asked whether Ritu knows about being able to run for the national elections from now on, she said she is aware but it is not something she plans to pursue.  

"I will not run for the national elections. I became a candidate for the union parishad elections to serve my people. I want to bid farewell to them with a smile after my tenure ends."

Ritu said she does not want to pursue a second term as the UP chairman either but that she will still continue work for the people in the future.

The latest census showed the Hijra population to be 12,629 Hijra people. However, many Hijra and transgender groups have said the numbers should be much higher – some citing as high as 500,000 even.