Suchetana Bhattacharya, daughter of former Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, has decided to undergo a gender reassignment surgery and change her name to Suchetan, adding that she has always identified as a transman mentally and wanted to be the same physically now. She also said that she had this discussion with her father since childhood, but the current decision is made by her.
"Have been a transman mentally, want to be so physically now," she told ABP Live Bangla. "Want to change my name as well, have consulted the legal aspects. With age, I started identifying as a transman mentally and because of this, I face a lot of humiliation. That is the reason why I made this decision," she added.
She also appealed to the people not to mix up her family identity with her personal identity.
Elaborating on her decision, she said, "Better late than never. Always knew I was a transman and have had an open discussion with my father. I will turn 42 this July 1. This is my decision and my father and I have always been progressive."
"This has nothing to do with communism, people who don't understand the word too well, should understand that," she added.
The matter first surfaced on social media in a post by LGBTQ activist Suprava Roy, who uploaded a picture of Suchetana addressing a symposium on the livelihood of the people of the community. According to Roy, at the symposium, Suchetana declared herself as a "transman" and also said that after the sex-change surgery, 'he' would be known as 'Suchetan', news agency IANS reported.
Actress and rights activist Ushashie Chakrabiorty, who was also a speaker at the symposium, told IANS that it is not easy for someone like Suchetana, whose father is a former Chief Minister of the state, to come out so boldly and announce such a decision.
"I feel that the bold step taken by Suchetana will encourage many others to come out of the closet and express their feelings. Many people are scared to open up. The more people come forward, the more the social movement on this issue will be strengthened. Steps taken by persons like Suchetana will surely have a big impact on society," Chakrabiorty told IANS
Senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court and a prominent face of the LGBTQ movement in Kolkata, Kaushik Gupta, also agreed with Chakraborty on this point.
"The idea is to establish freedom of choice and freedom of expression. There have been cases of people undergoing sex reassignment surgeries before. Their initiatives are equally commendable for encouraging others to come out of the closet. But when a person coming from a background of repute opens up on such an issue, it has a bigger impact on the society," Gupta said.