“They knew the path wouldn’t be easy, yet they didn’t back down. I also thank the villagers whose open-hearted support made this moment possible,” TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday (November 10) backed the same-sex couple who married in the Sundarbans last week. He extended his support to the village and villagers who stood by the young women when their families abandoned them for their gender preferences.
Mr. Banerjee, who is the Lok Sabha MP from the Diamond Harbour constituency, which also encompasses the Sundarbans, showed his support for the young couple Riya Sardar (19) and Rakhi Naskar (20).
“They knew the path wouldn’t be easy, yet they didn’t back down. I also thank the villagers whose open-hearted support made this moment possible,” Mr Banerjee said. “Love means humanity, and humanity is the true face of society. This is not just the wedding of two people, but the pride of Bangla and the nation.”
On Monday, the Trinamool Congress leadership organised a felicitation ceremony of the two women. TMC MP Bapi Halder and other party leaders attended the event and shared their regards and support with the women. Mr Banerjee addressed the gathering over a phone call and said that he would soon meet the two women in person.
The TMC leadership also added that West Bengal is the place for progressive thought and the acceptance of the same-sex couple in the rural area of Sundarbans has set an example for it.
“As a gesture of appreciation for this display of open-mindedness, Mamata Banerjee’s Maa-Mati-Manush Sarkar will undertake development works worth ₹25 lakhs in the village. We firmly believe that a truly progressive society is one that celebrates love, equality, and freedom in all its forms,” an official statement from the office of Mr Banerjee said on Monday. He assured the people of his constituency that after they showered the young couple with their support, he will extend his support towards the community through development.
“I thank Abhishek Banerjee for standing by us and supporting us,” Ms Sardar said hailing this development in their area.
Other TMC ministers like Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brien also welcomed the move by Mr Banerjee.
This comes after a same-sex couple got married in the rural area of West Bengal’s Sundarbans on November 5. Gathered together in a social ceremony, Ms. Sardar was dressed in traditional Bengali groom attire, and Ms. Naskar dressed up as a Bengali bride, decked up in a red saari, as neighbours turned up in huge numbers to support their love.
The modest marriage ceremony at the local temple in Kultali went viral on social media as netizens praised the villagers for their support of the young couple.
The ceremony did not have any shown or pomp, but was rather filled with songs, dance, firecrackers, and a small garland exchange ceremony between the two women.
As professional dancers, the duo met through a friend two years back and have fallen in love since. They now live together and sustain their lives through their dance and wish to be financially independent, so they do not have to depend on family members who did not accept their life choices.
“Be it a man or woman, if two people love each other, why can’t they get married and stay together? Two women can also stay together for a lifetime. Why is it a problem,” asked Ms. Sardar after their marriage ceremony.
Ms Naskar also told The Hindu that their families wanted to separate them, but the locals stepped in and helped them perform a social marriage.
Notably, same-sex marriage is not legal in India, but it did not matter to the village dwellers of Kultali in one of the most rural parts of Bengal inside the riverine Sundarbans delta as they extended their support to the couple.
Published – November 11, 2025 01:43 am IST
