The Inspiring Journey of Draupadi
By- Ajoy Kumar Misra
New Delhi/ Bhubaneswar: With the swearing in of India’s 15th President Droupadi Murmu, begins a new era of tribal assimilation to the national mainstream. This indeed is an epic moment for the people of India, especially the tribal population across the country. It is now the entire country must rise to pay their solemn respect to Mahamahim Droupadi Murmu.
The day will be recorded in golden letters in the history of the country and Odisha which gave the 15th President to the country. Draupadi Murmu was administered the oath at the Central Hall of Parliament by Chief Justice of India NV Ramanna. Earlier in the morning, she went to Rajghat at around 8.15 am and offered floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.
The oath ceremony was followed by a 21-gun salute. After the gun salute, she will address the gathering at the Central Hall as the 15th President of India. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and Odisha chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and a host of other dignitaries were present at the ceremony.
Droupadi Murmu had trounced combined opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the presidential election on July 22. The nomination of Murmu is seen as a masterstroke of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to humble the opposition. With this he has virtually thwarted the opposition move to challenge the BJP’s growing influence in Indian political arena.
Lets shed light on her background and family and lastly, how Murmu’s election is a significant and calculated political move by the BJP. Many might not know but Draupadi Murmu witnessed several tragedies in her lifetime including the death of two young sons and her husband. She lost her younger son to a fatal road accident when he was just 25. Murmu had three children – two sons and a daughter – with her husband Shyam Charan Murmu. According to reports, one of her sons died under mysterious circumstances in 2009 while her second son passed away in a road accident in 2012.
She had lost her husband earlier because of cardiac arrest. Murmu’s daughter Itishree works in a bank in Odisha. It has been reported that Murmu suffered from depression and anxiety at one point but she decided to rise above her personal tragedies and dedicated her life to social reform and public service. For this purpose, Murmu took the spiritual road to come out of her despair and associated herself with the BrahmKumari group. She is known to be a great preacher and practiioner of meditation.
Draupadi Murmu becoming the President signifies the true beauty of Indian democracy. Murmu who lives in a small house in Mayurbhanj, Odisha, will now live in the hundreds of acres of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Draupadi Murmu, 64, currently lives in a simple house in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. This two-storey house has only 6 rooms. And this house is not in any VVIP area. Rather, these houses are in a simple residential area, where most middle-class families and common people live.
Nominating Draupadi Murmu is a calculated master stroke by the BJP. It must be noted that Assembly Elections are to be held in 9 states next year i.e. in the year 2023. Of these, 86.15 in Meghalaya, 86.5 in Nagaland, 31.8 in Tripura, 7 in Karnataka, 30.6 in Chhattisgarh, 21.1 in Madhya Pradesh, 94.4 in Mizoram, 13.5 in Rajasthan and 9.3 percent in Telangana are of the tribal community.
That is, out of the 9 states where the Legislative Assembly elections are to be held next year, there are 6 states where the population of the tribal community is more than 20 per cent. Simply put, by making Draupadi Murmu the President, the BJP has made a champion move to master the votes of these communities.
