No support from the BJP, ‘partial allies’ in the Opposition

From opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court of India initially to maintaining a diplomatic silence after the Court handed down its eventually disappointing judgment in 2023, the Congress party has released its Nyay Patra, its election manifesto for 2024, which has a dedicated section on the rights of senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people. Once the judgment was eventually pronounced, Communist Party of India leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Binoy Viswam, was one of the few lone political voices displaying solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, calling the judgment “unfortunate.” Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Jairam Ramesh also weighed in, stating that the party was “studying” the different judgments. It is also rather odd that the Congress party promises passing a new law on civil unions even before starting the consultative process and prematurely foreclosing the possibility of recognising LGBTQ+ marriages. Even the CPI general election manifesto contains a promise for legally recognising and protecting same-sex couples’ rights in a form “similar to marriage” — but not the same as marriage. Just as Uttarakhand became the first State in independent India to implement a Uniform Civil Code, one that not only excludes LGBTQ+ couples from its ambit but also criminalises non-disclosure of live-in relationships among heterosexual couples, so too could State governments pass progressive laws recognising LGBTQ+ couples and expanding state benefits to them.