Droupadi Murmu scripted history on Thursday when she was elected India’s first Adivasi President. Here’s what you need to know about her.
Humble, affable, inspiring — this is how those who know her describe India’s President-elect, Droupadi Murmu. The 64-year-old tribal leader from Odisha scripted history on Thursday when she was elected India’s first Adivasi President, defeating the Opposition’s Yashwant Sinha with a lion’s share of votes.
Murmu will be the first President to be born after independence and also the youngest to occupy the top post. She is the second woman to become India’s First Citizen.
Here’s what you need to know about the country’s next president, Droupadi Murmu.
EARLY LIFE
Born on June 20, 1958 to a Santhal family in Uperbeda village in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, Murmu’s journey is an inspiring story of many firsts. She was the first girl in her village to go to college.
Before beginning her career in politics, Murmu was a teacher at the Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre in Rairangpur. She then went on to work as a junior assistant in the irrigation and power department of the Odisha government.
POLITICAL SUCCESS
It is from Rairangpur that she took her first step up the BJP ladder. She won an election to the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat in 1997, and served as councillor.
She was first elected to the Odisha assembly in 2000 and went on to become a minister of state (independent charge) for commerce and industry and the fisheries and animal resources development minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government. In 2004, she won a second term in the state assembly.
As Transport Minister of Odisha, she was credited with having set up transport offices in all 58 subdivisions of the state.
PERSONAL LOSS
In 2005, Murmu was not inducted into the cabinet in Odisha. She also faced consecutive defeats in the 2009 and 2014 assembly polls.
This phase of her life was marked by several tragic personal losses. Between 2009 and 2014, she lost three of her closest family members — her eldest son Laxman Murmu in 2009, her younger son Sippun Murmu in 2013, and then her husband Shyam Charan Murmu in 2014.
Her mother and brother also passed away during this time.
GOVERNOR OF JHARKHAND
In 2015, Murmu was appointed Governor of Jharkhand and stayed in the post till 2021. She was the first woman governor of the state.
As a Santhal leader and an inspirational figure for her community and for women in general, Murmu has always kept the tribal community’s interests at the forefront.
When the BJP government passed the Chota Nagpur Tenancy and Santhal Parganas Tenancy laws in the Jharkhand assembly, Murmu withheld her assent. This was after tribals opposed it over fears that it would curtail their land rights.
HER INTERESTS
Murmu is a keen practitioner of the meditation techniques of the Brahma Kumaris, a movement she embraced after she lost her husband, two sons, mother and brother in just six years between 2009-2015.
She is fluent in Santhali and Odia languages, and is an excellent orator.
She has a sweet tooth. Besides enjoying sweet treats on her own, she also often spoils people around her with chocolates and sweet.
