By Purushottam Nayak

Bhubaneswar, July 22, 2022: Tribal community in India seem elated that the country has elected one of its members as the head of the nation.

“It is a proud moment for the country as Droupadi Murmu becomes the 15th President of India,” Father Nicholas Barla, secretary of the Indian bishops’ commission for tribal affairs, told Matters India July 21, soon India got its first tribal president.

Murmu, a tribal woman from the eastern Indian state of Odisha and a former governor of the neighboring Jharkhand state, won more than 60 percent of the total vote value. Opposition’s Yashwant Sinha conceded defeat after three rounds of counting. The president-elect will take oath on July 25

During her term as the Jharkhand Governor, Murmu rejected a bill in 2017 approved by the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly that wanted to amend the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949. The bill supposedly ensures rights to tribals to make commercial use of their land although the ownership of land remains the same.

Father Barla, a Divine Word priest from Odisha, says India’s first tribal president will hold the Constitutional rights of tribals.

India is home to more than 104 million indigenous people, making up 8.6 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people.

Other tribal people too rejoiced over the news.

“We are proud that Murmu hails from Odisha. We hope she works for the development of tribal communities and others. Let many tribal women shine like Murmu in the future,” Sarajani Pradhan, a retired Catholic teacher from Odisha’s Kandhamal district.

Murmu’s journey from a remote village in Odisha to the Rashtrapti Bhavan (president’s residence) in New Delhi would inspire women to aspire for great achievements in life – in fields of development, education, and empowerment, Pradhan added.

Murmu is a member of the Santali tribal community from Rairangpur in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.

She was born on June 20, 1958. She married Shyam Charan Murmu, a banker, who died in 2014. The couple had two sons and a daughter. Two sons too died years ago.

Before entering into politics, Murmu was a schoolteacher, an assistant professor at the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research Institute, Rairangpur, and a junior assistant at Odisha’s irrigation department.

She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1997 and was a member of the Odisha legislative assembly from the Rairangpur Assembly constituency in 2000 and 2004.

She served as the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Commerce and Transportation from March 6, 2000, to August 6, 2002, and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development from August 6, 2002, to May 16, 2004.

She received in 2007 the Nilkantha Award for the best legislator in Odisha.

She became the Jharkhand Governor in 2015.

“As a grassroots leader, Murmu will understand the pain and agony of neglected tribals,” said Father Jadu Marandi, a Santali tribal priest of the Balasore diocese that covers the Mayurbhanj district.

Sister Anupama Toppo, provincial of the Daughters of the Cross in Odisha’s Rourkela town, a tribal, said, “Murmu has many difficulties such as losing her husband and two sons, yet she persevered to pursue public service that we admire.”

“She could bring up many women and make them leaders in India,” Sister Toppo added.