The Press Club of India has long been a space in which different worlds and worldviews collide. For some journalists, it is a watering hole that caters to spirited conversations; for others, a pitstop between assignments; and for many, a space where dissident conversations, meetings, and conferences can still take place with relative freedom. On the afternoon of 20 August 2026, this club in central Delhi played host to an unusual event.
A large banner decked one wall of a room on the club’s first floor. It featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi, depicted in the likeness of a Hindu god, holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. “Bhagwan Shri Narendra Modi Chalisa”—devotional hymns for God Shri Narendra Modi—the banner read. A cardboard cutout of this same image was placed on a long table at the front of this room, alongside a bronze thali arranged with offerings. To the left of this table was a large standee, which contained the words to the devotional hymn dedicated to Modi.
At the table sat about five people. The first to address the gathering was Rajan Singh, a transwoman who is a member of Bihar’s Transgender Welfare Board. According to her LinkedIn profile, she is also the chairperson of the National Transgender Welfare Trust. At the event, Rajan announced that the welfare board had placed a proposal of about 112 crore rupees with the Bihar government “to construct a grand temple dedicated to Lord Shri Narendra Modi on around five acres of land.” (In 2015, plans to make a temple with Modi’s idol in Gujarat were reportedly scrapped after he tweeted that he was “appalled” by the idea.)
Rajan then introduced the other speakers: Mahamandelshwar Vaishnavi Jagdamba Nandgiri; Sem Williams, who Rajan said was the head of the Bharatiya Kinnar Samaj, and Namahjit from Namah foundation. Rajan invited Vaishnavi to speak about how Modi uplifted India’s trans community. “Modi is a living strength, a personified version of the six most important values…and these are the values that make him a God” Vaishnavi said.
The speeches were followed by a devotional programme and an aarti, a ritual featuring a lit lamp. Tinkling bells rang out of the room as a chorus of voices sang, “Jai Jai Modi, Har Har Modi”—Hail Modi, Praise Modi.
Within hours, as video clips from the event went viral causing an outcry on social media platforms, the press club issued an online statement. “It is hereby #clarified that the Club has not organised the event,” the statement read. “The hall was hired for the purpose of holding a press conference by an organization but when terms for renting out the place were violated by it, the Club authorities immediately intervened and it was stopped.”
A WhatsApp invite for this event, which was sent by Rajan and accessed by queerbeat, spells out its intent clearly. “The event will feature a recitation of the ‘Shri Modi Chalisa,’” it reads.
A member of the press club who helped book the hall for the event told queerbeat that they thought it was only a press conference to announce the Modi temple. (queerbeat is withholding the name of this member for privacy.) When the press club member found out what had happened, they told the event organisers that “it was a breach of trust,” they recalled. The press club member also said that the organisers should have been clear about the event proceedings so that permissions could have been considered accordingly. “This is not a place to hold a yagya [prayer ceremony], what would have happened if the place caught fire,” the press club member added.
A few hours after speaking to queerbeat, the press club member asked to review their quote and then claimed that it could not be published because it had factual errors. The member did not provide any specific responses to what these errors were despite multiple requests for clarification.
Afzal Imam, secretary general of the Press Club of India, told queerbeat that neither the press club nor the club’s managing committee had anything to do with the event. “We will conduct an enquiry into what happened,” he added. “It seems like a conspiracy to defame the press club.”
When queerbeat spoke to Rajan, she bristled at any objections to the event.“If the Press Club has any policy against chalisa or taking the prime minister’s name, let them say this publicly and we’ll take out a protest against them today itself,” she said. Rajan also said that she had co-hosted the event with Bharatiya Kinnar Samaj, which she described as a year-old organisation working for the welfare of transgender people. queerbeat was unable to find this organisation online. We interviewed three prominent trans activists from Bihar, all of whom said that they were not aware it existed.
A little over a month ago, on 30 July, Rajan exalted Modi for the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. Since then, Rajan said, “People like us are getting such big posts—in Bihar Kinnar people are becoming sub-inspectors, IAS [Indian Administrative Services] and even DSPs [Deputy Superintendent of Police].” This is why, she added, “We have proposed that in Bihar, a temple should be built for Narendra Modi.”
Rajan told queerbeat that Bihar’s Transgender Welfare Board had unanimously supported this proposal when she had placed it before the board on 29 July.
However, Anupriya Singh, who is also a member of Bihar’s Transgender Welfare Board, disputed this claim. The temple was Rajan’s personal agenda, and it was not supported by the welfare board as a whole, Anupriya told queerbeat. The minutes of the welfare board meeting from 29 July, which queerbeat accessed, do not mention the temple either.
Rajan has also faced criticism from other quarters. On 14 August, Prashant Kumar, a human-rights lawyer practising in the Patna High Court, filed a complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office. The complaint—which queerbeat has accessed—called for an investigation against Rajan to ascertain if she was using the “name, designation or photograph of the Prime Minister in connection with a private activity to create an impression of government support or official recognition” and to obtain financial contributions on that basis.
Rajan’s Facebook display picture shows her shaking hands with Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Her cover photo shows her in a meeting that includes Amit Shah, India’s Home Minister. In social media posts, she refers to Nagmani Kushwaha, a former Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, as her father. Rajan told queerbeat that she is not affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Anupriya felt certain that Rajan was using the trans community for her “personal gain.” Another senior trans activist underscored these concerns.“This kind of thing just defames the transgender community, and using the board for personal gain is simply not acceptable,” the activist, who spoke to queerbeat on the condition of anonymity, said.
In recent years, prominent leaders from India’s queer movement have aligned themselves with a Hindu-right ideology, noted a recent essay by Ekta Sonawane in queerbeat. Ekta argued that the movement needed to resist these incursions and acknowledge inequities or caste, class, and religion, so that it could achieve its true liberatory potential for all queer people, and not only a select few.
Ritu, a prominent trans rights activist, echoed a similar sentiment. “When figures like these deify our oppressors—the very people who are taking away from trans and queer folks—it makes a mockery of the day-to-day struggles of trans folks and pulls away from their right to fight back,” she told queerbeat.
“These right-wing trans and queer people delegitimise the larger intersectional movement; their savarna approach invisibilises dalit and muslim trans people. For their individual benefit, they’re foregoing an entire community,” she added.