New Delhi: Two members of the National Council of Transgender Persons (NCTP), Kalki Subramanium and Rituparna Neog, resigned from their posts on Wednesday (March 26) evening. Their resignations came soon after the Rajya Sabha cleared the passage of the contentious Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026. Terming the Bill “regressive” and “existential”, they said that they cannot be part of a council the government refused to consult.In her resignation letter to the Union minister of social justice and empowerment Virendra Kumar, Subramanium, who served as the southern states representative on the committee, wrote that “the recent introduction and passage of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill” has “created an untenable position” for her.“As a statutory representative, my primary mandate is to advise the Government on legislation affecting our lives. The decision to move this Bill forward without any formal consultation with myself or other community representatives of the NCTP undermines the very purpose for which this Council was established,” she wrote.“I have spent the last several weeks in constant dialogue with the transgender and intersex communities across the Southern Indian states and throughout the nation. The consensus is absolute: this bill is seen as a step backward for our fundamental rights to self identification and dignity,” she said.Speaking to The Wire, Subramanium said, “An important bill was supposed to be introduced in the parliament and it was not at all discussed with us – no consultation through email, messages or meetings. Instead, decisions were made by cis-representatives with their stereotypical, homophobic perspective.”“What is the point of being a member when we are not even taken into consideration for such matters?” she asked, adding that the Bill is “so regressive that it questions everything”.Rituparna Neog, the North East region representative on the committee, resigned saying, “I understood my responsibility as an NCTP member to represent the voice of my community to the competent authority.”“However, looking at the current circumstance, [I] wish not to continue as a member of NCTP and with good faith, I am resigning from all my responsibilities,” she said.Neog told The Wire, “I resigned because I felt our community voice was not heard. I do not want to be part of anything where my responsibilities are not taken seriously and we are taken for granted. Community is first. My community is with me in this decision. If I have no role to play in decision making, I do not want to continue to be part of it as a token.”The NCTP was established in 2020 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as a ten-member council to oversee and evaluate the implementation of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which was built on the principles of the 2014 NALSA judgment, affirming the right to self-identification for transgender persons.Subramanium, who attended last week’s “urgent” meeting, said that her decision to resign was also influenced by how that interaction unfolded. Members of the NCTP, who had expected to meet Kumar, were instead directed to meet Yogita Swaroop, senior economic adviser in the social justice ministry, but were allegedly dismissed following their discussion with her.“When I had asked her (Swaroop) about why there was discrimination in the punishment for rape between women and transgender persons as proposed, she told me ‘because the anatomy is not the same’. When I asked how it made the act of rape any different, she didn’t give any explanation,” she said.“The minister (Kumar) has supported us with many measures for transgender persons in the past. I don’t know who was really behind this bill,” she added.NCTP members earlier alleged that Swaroop resisted the demands they raised, and when asked why they were not consulted on the Bill, she allegedly told them, “We know what needs to be done with the Bill, so there was no need to consult you.”Subramanium said that she and other members of the community will take the matter to the Supreme Court. “It’s the only way,” she said.“I will keep engaging with the system and I still have faith in due process. I have full faith in our constitution,” Neog said.The Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday amid sustained criticism. While the house proposed to refer it to a select committee following objections by the opposition members, it was ultimately negated by ‘voice vote’.Earlier on Tuesday, the Lok Sabha passed the Bill by voice vote while the opposition staged a walkout as the government refused to take up their demands, and rushed it following a discussion that lasted only about two and a half hours.