January 22, 2026

President Droupadi Murmu

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-07-22 07:01:34

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It was evident from the day the NDA announced the name of Droupadi Murmu as its nominee for the presidential elections that her candidature would further split an already fractured opposition. Although the opposition had put up a joint candidate in Yashwant Sinha, Murmu's credentials as a tribal woman politician who had fought against several odds to champion the cause of the marginalized and downtrodden communities all her life were enough to make some opposition parties support her. That is exactly what happened. As she was a tribal and had been the governor of Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which rules Jharkhand in alliance with the Congress and the RJD, broke rank and announced its support for Murmu. As she hails from Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) also decided to support her. In the end, a huge number of MPs and MLAs from the opposition parties cross-voted in her favour and she won the elections with a handsome margin to become the 15^th President of India.

Although the Indian Presidency is just a Constitutional post without any executive or legislative powers, the President is the custodian of the Constitution and every executive action is done in his or her name. The very fact that India has elected a tribal woman as its President shows that democracy, despite obvious and deep flaws, has deep roots in the country and even a person from marginalized sections of society can reach the top. President Murmu will give hope to the 100 million strong tribal community and all other marginalized sections of Indian society. She assumes office at a time when the nation is divided over many issues and many democratic institutions are under threat. She will also be in office when the nation is likely to have its most hotly-contested elections in 2024. It will be keenly watched how she upholds the dignity of the office in these troubled times when the government and the opposition are constantly at war with each other over the pettiest of issues.