From a Teacher to the High Office: Journey of Tribal Leader Draupadi Murmu

By: Navyasri, Writer, WomenEntrepreneurIndia | Wednesday, 6 July 2022

From a Teacher to the High Office: Journey of Tribal Leader Draupadi Murmu

“A historic decision has been made to select a Santhali Janajati lady as the Presidential candidate during India's historic 75th year of independence, Nava Thakuria writes.”

If one believes in simple mathematical calculations and the bare minimum of political honesty on the part of public representatives in the Indian Parliament and State legislative assemblies, the world's largest democracy is anticipating a lady tribal President in New Delhi. Draupadi Murmu, an ordinary Janjati woman who became a teacher before becoming a politician, is given the go-ahead by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance administration to run in the upcoming presidential elections, which are slated for July 18th.

Tribal leader Droupadi Murmu's path from a junior assistant in the irrigation and electricity department in Odisha to the presidential candidate of the BJP-led NDA has been a long and gruelling one.

If elected, Draupadi Murmu, the first tribal leader to be nominated for the top constitutional position in the nation, will become India's second woman president. The National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate, Ms. Murmu, a former governor of Jharkhand, is a seasoned politician from the tribal region of Odisha with a strong academic background.

The BJP president JP Nadda announced the nomination of Draupadi Murmu as its presidential candidate. Draupadi Murmu, who would become India's first president, is renowned for her sobriety, simplicity, and openness while serving as governor.

Life of Draupadi Murmu

Born on June 20, 1958, into a Scheduled Tribe (ST) family in the Santhal community in the Baidaposi village of the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha to Biranchi Narayan Tudu. Her father and grandparents were both Panchayati raj (village head) leaders. Sh. Shyam Charan Murmu was her husband.

Murmu took her first steps in overcoming poverty in one of the country's most isolated and impoverished districts.

Despite all obstacles, she managed to complete her undergraduate studies in the arts at Ramadevi Women's College in Bhubaneswar, where she also worked as a junior assistant in the irrigation and power division of the state of Odisha.

Later, she worked at the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education Center in Rairangpur as an honorary assistant instructor.

The Odisha Legislative Assembly presented Murmu with the Nilkanth Award for the Best MLA of the Year in 2007.

She has a wide range of administrative experience, having worked in the Odisha government's transport, commerce, fisheries, and animal husbandry ministries.

Murmu served as the BJP's deputy president before becoming the Scheduled Tribe Morcha's president in Odisha. She was re-elected in 2013 to serve as the district president of the BJP's Mayurbhanj (West) unit. In the same year, she was also elected to the BJP National Executive (ST Morcha).

Up to April 2015, when she was named governor of Jharkhand, she served as district president.

Shyam Charan Murmu was Murmu's husband, and together they had two sons and a daughter. She lost her spouse and two sons, leaving her life scarred by personal traumas.

Itishree, a daughter of Murmu, gets wed to Ganesh Hembram. Draupadi Murmu earned her bachelor's degree from Rama Devi Women's College in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She worked as a junior assistant in the irrigation division of the government of Odisha before beginning her political career as well as an assistant professor at the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research.

Political Journey

In 1997, Draupadi Murmu began her political career in Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat, Odisha, and in 2000, she was appointed a minister in that state's administration.

On a BJP ticket, she was elected to two terms as an MLA for Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj (2000 and 2009). During the BJP-BJD coalition administration that assumed office in 2000, she held the portfolios of Commerce and Transport, followed by Fisheries and Animal Husbandry.

Additionally, Draupadi Murmu served as the vice president and eventually the president of the Scheduled Tribes Morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Odisha branch (BJP). In 2013, she was also proposed for nomination as a member of the BJP's National Executive (ST Morcha).

In addition, Draupadi Murmu made history by becoming Jharkhand's first female governor. Draupadi Murmu was appointed Jharkhand's ninth governor on May 18, 2015, and she held the position till July 12, 2021. She was the state's first governor to finish their tenure.

In 2007, the Odisha Legislative Assembly gave Draupadi Murmu the Neelkanth Award as the finest MLA of the year.

She is lauded as a "compassionate and balanced" administrator who remained "accessible and down to earth" by Jharkhand officials and MPs.

Why did the BJP choose Draupadi Murmu to be the next president of India?

Murmu is a grassroots politician who has achieved a lot of firsts. She was the first tribal leader from Odisha who was also a woman to be appointed governor of a state. She was Jharkhand's first governor to finish her tenure in office, holding the position from 2015 to 2021.

PM Modi in an initial tweet commented that Murmu has a rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (ABVKA), supported by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a powerful ideological in the BJP, hailed Murmu's candidacy as a turning point for India's 120 million Janajati citizens.

"Janajatis are a vital part of tradition and the heirs to a prestigious culture that belongs to the vast Indian country. However, they have been neglected and ignored for many decades, according to Ramchandra Kharadi, president of ABVKA, the largest non-governmental tribal welfare group in India. He claimed that it was historically significant to choose a Santhali Janajati woman as the nation's presidential candidate during the nation's triumphant 75th anniversary of independence.