Hyderabad-Born Menaka Guruswamy Gets TMC Rajya Sabha Ticket; Queer Community Weighs In On Representation

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-born Supreme Court senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the All India Trinamul Congress, may be the first openly LGBTQIA+ person in Parliament. The party announced its candidacy on Friday.

Guruswamy, in a post about He added that he looks forward to representing the people of West Bengal and serving “We the People of India”.

In Hyderabad, where Guruswamy traces his early years and family roots, he opens up space for a discussion about candidacy, responsibility for representation and more. She is the daughter of Deccan Chronicle columnist and Chinese affairs expert Mohan Guruswamy.

“This is a great opportunity for the LGBTQ community across the country because this is the first time that an LGBTQ person has been openly represented in the political system,” said Anil, an LGBTQIA+ activist in Hyderabad.

Guruswamy was born in Hyderabad and attended Hyderabad Public School before completing his education in Delhi. He later studied at NLSIU, Bengaluru, went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar for higher legal studies and pursued his postgraduate studies at Harvard Law School. His legal career at the Supreme Court includes constitutional cases and is largely associated with the 2018 decision that read Section 377 into consenting adults. In July 2019, he and Arundhati Katju appeared on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, where they publicly announced that they are a couple. That same year, two of them made TIME’s 100 list.

“Representation in decision-making positions is very important and critical because it allows the voices of the community to be included in the political arena,” Anıl said. He argued that state governments have largely focused on trans women and trans men, but broader parts of the spectrum remain on the sidelines. “Trans representation alone is not enough to move the diverse LGBTQ community forward.”

He called Guruswamy’s candidacy “definitely a stepping stone,” adding that while it might not solve entrenched exclusions overnight, it could expand discussions on education, employment, policymaking and recognition of non-binary individuals as equal citizens.

However, this confirmation does not close the debate. Artist and LGBTQIA+ activist Patruni Chidananda Sastry acknowledged Guruswamy’s “historic work” in recent years but said: “People in positions of power and privilege should use that position to protect the general generation of society. While the community can get representation once they are in Parliament, how much it will help the general community is a bigger question.”

Sastry cited examples where, in his view, Guruswamy took positions that differed from broader LGBTQIA+ activism, including issues related to student protests and political alliances. He asked whether someone who “has never had the courage to question governments or speak on behalf of the community in many cases” could effectively represent queer voices in Parliament.

In total, the Election Commission has issued notifications for 37 Rajya Sabha seats in 10 states. Voting will take place on March 16 and nominations will be open until March 5.