When Delhi's Connaught Place lit up in Rainbow Colours again

Sunday saw a flurry of colours as 'Aagaz-e-Badlav', a collective that supports LGBTQIA rights, gathered for a silent protest march in the heart of the capital with rainbow banners and placards demanding an end to the discrimination that the community faces.

The collective, which was formed after Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's bill for amendment in IPC section 377 was rejected in Parliament, wants an end to festering prejudice that block people's access to discrimination-free education, health, housing, jobs and public spaces. People from all walks of life, students, activists and professionals gathered at the Palika Bazaar park and walked around Connaught Place striking conversations with people and distributing pamphlets in order to sensitise and aware them.

Mayuri Ghosh, who was there at the march, talked about the collective and what it stands for. "We do not wish to be recognised as just another queer group, but more like a campaign which focuses on some basic issues like educating the masses about queer existence. Our aim is to raise a voice to scrap off 377 and also to curb discrimination, not only against queer individuals, but also on the basis of caste, creed and socio-economic status," she said.

While talking about his experience of interacting with people, Bhuwan Kathuria said, "The highlight of the march for me was when I met a girl from Tamil Nadu, who said that she felt Delhi is pretty open about people standing up for LGBT rights. She told me that the situation is very bleak back in TN and even volunteered to support the movement and spread it down south."

Yash Akhaury, one of the participants of the march, said "This was my first LGBTQ protest and it was a heartening to see a largely positive reaction from the people, to see them actually read the pamphlet and not make paper planes out of it. For me it is not so much about support, as it is about letting people go on with their lives, unruffled by "moral brigade". The community deserves the same basic human rights as any straight person."

He added, "This is what the country was built on. This is what India/Bharat/Hindustan stands for. Equality."

Shashi Tharoor's Private Member Bill, which was defeated with 24 'Ayes', 71 'Noes' and 1 abstention, has given rise to multiple questions about India's progress, development and fight for an inclusive society.

The rejection of the bill created much furore online, as people took to Twitter expressing their disappointment.

The discriminatory archaic law, which was instituted by the British in 1860, criminalises all non-penile-vaginal intercourse as 'Against The Order of Nature' in India with imprisonment up to 10 years. In a landmark judgement, the Delhi High Court had termed it as 'unconstitutional' in 2009. however the Supreme Court overruled the same in 2013.