Indian Thought Latest News & Views
A tribal leader who started her public life as a councilor in Odisha is now the country’s elected President. She is the first tribal woman of India to become the President while the second woman President to reach this position. Murmu, the former Jharkhand governor and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the post of President, won an easy victory over Yashwant Sinha, the opposition candidate.
Murmu (64), who became the 15th President of India, will also be the first President of India to be born after independence. She will take oath on July 25.
Murmu, who stays away from flamboyance and publicity, is a keen practitioner of the meditation techniques of the Brahma Kumaris. She took this deep spirituality and contemplation when she lost her husband, two sons, mother and brother over a period of six years from 2009 to 2015.
BJP leader and Lok Sabha member from Kalahandi Basant Kumar Panda said, “He is a very spiritual and soft-spoken person.” He lost his son in 2009.
Murmu had said, “I was devastated and suffering from depression. I had sleepless nights after the death of my son. When I went to meet the Brahma Kumaris, I realized that I have to move on and live for my two sons and daughter.”
Since being nominated as the NDA candidate for the post of President on June 21, he has not made any public statement. His victory seemed certain and his side was strengthened by the support of opposition parties like Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Shiv Sena, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, YSR Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Murmu campaigned across the country for the presidential election and was accorded a warm welcome in the state capitals.
From Rairangpur itself, he had taken the first step on the political ladder with the BJP. She was made a councilor in the Rairangpur Notified Area Council in 1997 and was also a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government of Odisha from 2000 to 2004. She was appointed as the Governor of Jharkhand in 2015 and held the position till 2021.
Former BJP Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal said, “She (Murmu) has gone through a lot of hardships and struggles, but (she) is not scared of adversity.” Samal said that born in a Santhal family, she was a Santhali. and is an excellent speaker in Odia languages. He said that he has worked extensively to improve the infrastructure like roads and ports in the region.
The focus of the BJP, which is trying to establish its foothold in Odisha, has always been on the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj. The BJD broke ties with the BJP in 2009 and since then it has tightened its grip on Odisha.
Murmu had contested the 2014 assembly elections from Rairangpur, but lost to a BJD candidate. After completing his term as the Governor of Jharkhand, Murmu devoted his time to meditation and social work in Rairangpur.
After his selection as the presidential candidate, Murmu said, “I am surprised and happy too. As a tribal woman from Mayurbhanj district, I had never thought of becoming a candidate for the top post.”
Hailing from Mayurbhanj, one of the most remote and underdeveloped districts of the country, Murmu graduated in arts from Ramadevi Women’s College in Bhubaneswar and also worked as a junior assistant in the Irrigation and Power Department in the Odisha government. He also worked as an Honorary Assistant Teacher at Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre, Rairangpur.
Murmu was awarded the Neelkanth Award for the best MLA of the year by the Odisha Legislative Assembly in 2007. He has varied administrative experience of handling Ministries like Transport, Commerce, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry in the Government of Odisha.
In the BJP, Murmu was the vice-president and later the president of the Scheduled Tribes Morcha in Odisha. She was elected district president of BJP’s Mayurbhanj (West) unit in 2010 and was re-elected in 2013.
He was also named a member of the BJP National Executive (ST Morcha) in the same year. He held the post of District President till April 2015, when he was appointed as the Governor of Jharkhand. Murmu’s daughter Itishree works in a bank in Odisha.
