India’s newest and 15th President, Draupadi Murmu, created history on Thursday by becoming the first tribal woman to hold the highest constitutional post. Murmu’s humble background and personal turmoil are not news.
Her journey from Rairangpur, a small village in Odisha, to India’s principal residence ‘Rashtrapati Bhavan’, is a truly inspirational story for everyone who aspires to achieve their dreams without any stronghold in the system. She exemplifies the power of an average woman who can overcome all struggles and obstacles to make her way in a man’s world.
An Inspiring personality:
Born into a poverty-stricken tribal family in one of the country’s most remote and underdeveloped districts, her childhood was full of challenges.
Overcoming all odds, she graduated in Arts from Ramadevi Mahila College, Bhubaneswar and worked as a Junior Assistant in the Department of Irrigation and Power in the Government of Odisha.
Murmu married Shyam Charan Murmu and had two sons and a daughter. Her life has been marked with personal tragedies as she lost her husband and two sons.
It has been reported that Murmu suffered from depression and anxiety. Still, she decided to rise above her tragedies and dedicated her life to social reform and public service. For this purpose, Murmu took the spiritual road to escape her despair and associated herself with the BrahmKumari group.
Murmu’s daughter Itishree is married to Ganesh Hembram.
Background:
She started her political career as the Vice President of Rairangpur NAC. In addition, the Odisha Legislative Assembly honoured her with the Best Legislator Award for 2007.
She has varied administrative experience in handling Ministries like Transport, Commerce, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry in the Government of Odisha.
In the BJP, Murmu was the vice president and later president of the Scheduled Tribe Morcha in Odisha. She was elected as the district president of the Mayurbhanj (West) unit of the BJP in 2010 and re-elected in 2013. The same year, she was also named a BJP National Executive (ST Morcha) member.
Draupadi Murmu becoming the President symbolises the true beauty of Indian democracy. Murmu, who lives in a small house in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj, will now live on hundreds of acres of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Draupadi Murmu, 64, lives in a simple house in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. This two-storey house has only six rooms. And this house is not in any VVIP area. Instead, these houses are in a simple residential area, where most middle-class families and ordinary people live.
Murmu will take charge on July 25
The term of the current President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, ends on July 25, when the new President is set to take the oath of office.
The country’s constitution mandates lawmakers to fill the presidency before the completion of the term of the current president.
The President of India is mainly ceremonial, and executive powers are exercised by the Prime Minister and his cabinet under the Constitution of India.
Nevertheless, the position is considered highly coveted. The president can play a decisive role in times of political instability, deciding which party can form the federal government if a general election is inconclusive. The President also has the power to pardon the death penalty.
“A daughter of India hailing from a tribal community born in a remote part of eastern India has been elected our President!” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.
More than 4,500 MPs from both the national and state parliaments voted in the presidential election,
Murmu won with the support of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in power.
