People’s President in the making

CHENNAI: As the countdown to elect India’s 15th President drew to a close on Thursday, the mood around the NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu’s residence was upbeat. The counting for the presidential election was being viewed as a mere formality, as Murmu who was backed by both the ruling party and other influential political stakeholders, was set to outrun the Opposition’s candidate Yashwant Sinha by a big margin. Murmu (64) had led the race when it came to the counting of the MP votes, where of the 748 valid votes, Murmu bagged 540 votes, while Sinha got 208 votes.

Having garnered 53.13% of the total vote value after three rounds of counting, Murmu’s lead was bigger than what was expected. Her ascension to the highest constitutional office in the country heralds a few significant firsts for the nation. For one, she will be India’s first tribal President, a feat that has taken seven decades. She would also be only the second woman President of the nation, after the stint of Pratibha Patil.

Murmu’s victory was in many ways a foregone conclusion, even as the NDA government announced its presidential candidate a few months back. What the BJP and its allies had achieved with that one master-stroke was set into motion its mandate of all-round inclusion, picking a candidate who was representative of not just the tribal belts of India, but even the northeast of the nation, a region that the BJP has set its crosshairs on, come 2024 and the parliamentary elections.

The selection of the former schoolteacher turned MLA who was also the Governor of Jharkhand ties into India’s need for a narrative centered on an everyday hero, or heroine in this case. The soft-spoken Murmu hails from humble means, as she was born into a Santhal farmer’s family in a village named Uperbeda, Mayurbhanj district, in Odisha. Until many years ago, her village did not even have a secondary school, which compelled her to move to Bhubaneswar to complete her secondary education. Her entry into politics was fuelled by the notion of service, as her villagers recall her as an iron-willed problem solver, who never took the easy way out.

She also was Jharkhand’s longest-serving Governor, and its first tribal Governor, who also happened to be the first person to have completed a full six-year term in the State. In some ways, Murmu’s success mirrors that of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. Coming from a fisherman’s family in Rameswaram, Kalam evolved into a man of science, literally India’s Missile Man, who during his political career, revamped the identity of the President’s office. As a cheerleader for the cause of education and technological advancement, Kalam, who was fondly known as the People’s President, lit the flame of education in many parts of rural India.

India’s political system does not allow for two power centres, which essentially relegates the President to a figurehead sort of role. Even within the confines of that role, a President has the power to bring about and inspire change in the polity and policy in dramatic ways. The tribal communities of India, as well as the marginalised, and those who have slipped through the cracks in socio-economic development and prosperity for decades together, are pinning their hopes on the new President, who they believe might be able to further the agenda of their progress in an unequivocal manner.