Woman from Ethnic Minority Wins India’s Presidential Election
Vondigest reports that a woman who hails from a minority ethnic community was chosen as India’s new president, a positional that is largely ceremonial.
Droupadi Murmu, a leader from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was elected Thursday, July 21, by the Indian Parliament and state legislatures in voting held Monday, making her the first president from one of the country’s tribes and the second-ever woman to hold the position.
She will be formally sworn in as the president next Monday.
Murmu, 64, who hails from the eastern state of Odisha and was governor of Jharkhand state from 2015-2021, is a member of the Santal ethnic minority, one of India’s largest tribal groups. She started out as a school teacher before entering politics and has been a two-time lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party.
Murmu’s father and her grandfather were village headmen in Baidaposi in Mayurbhanj district in Odisha.
Prime Minister Modi congratulated Murmu by visiting her at her residence in New Delhi, and in a tweet wrote he was “certain she will be an outstanding President who will lead from the front and strengthen India’s development journey.”
The president’s role in India is largely ceremonial, but the position can be important during times of political uncertainty such as a hung parliament, when the office assumes greater power. She is bound by the advice of the Cabinet led by the prime minister, who is the chief executive.
She will replace Ram Nath Kovind, a Hindu nationalist leader from the Dalit community. Kovind has been president since 2017.
