The President of India is as powerful as Germany, like the Queen or King of Spain. In this position you don’t have to make political decisions – but you do have a say. Ministers can be reprimanded, bosses can be reprimanded, some are accepted abroad and heard at home.

So it is still something special that a woman holds this position for the first time in India: Droupadi Murmu. And not only because of her gender, but also because Murmu is also a representative of the Santhal natives. His career began as a tribal leader.

This distinguishes him from Indira Gandhi, for example, who in 1966 became Prime Minister of India’s large, diverse, but patriarchal and caste structured society. But Gandhi was the daughter of the country’s founder Jawaharlal Nehru, and she was from a high caste.

Born in 1958 in Baidaposi village in Mayurbhanj district, Droupadi Murmu is the daughter of a village chief. She attended a village school and studied at “Ramadevi Women’s College” in the state capital, Bhubaneswar. Started his career as a government employee, from 1979 to 1983 worked as an assistant in the Department of Irrigation and Energy.

As governor, he carries out his duties in an approachable manner

At the insistence of his mother-in-law, Droupadi Murmu returned to his homeland to take care of his husband and children, working as a teacher. His real political career started in 1997 when he was elected to the city council in Rairangpur municipal election. From 2000 to 2004 he was minister in the state coalition government, responsible first for trade and transport and then for fisheries and animal resources. In 2006 he became president of a tribal community recognized as socially and economically disadvantaged in India’s constitution – for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which otherwise does not have a good reputation among the indigenous population due to its Hindu nationalist course.

In 2009, Droupadi Murmu lost his eldest son under mysterious circumstances. A few years later her second son and her husband also died. In 2015 she was appointed as the first female governor of Jharkhand state, a position she will hold until 2021. She runs her office in an approachable manner, making her open to all walks of life. In early 2017, the 64-year-old was said to have been nominated for the high post, but was passed.

This time, Droupadi Murmu was formed against well-connected Delhi politician Yashwant Sinha, who is also a former BJP member and a cabinet minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Today he is considered a staunch critic of the party and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indian news channels NDTV and Hindustan Times were the first to report on Murmu’s win on Wednesday night, although all votes have not yet been counted.

Murmu learned of his candidacy on television, he was “surprised” and “excited,” he said. “As a tribal member from the remote Mayurbhanj district, I never thought of being a candidate for the top position.” The political leaders at home celebrated her as the “princess of the land”. Santhal, who felt they represented them, advocated, among other things, the recognition of the “Sarna Dharma” – forests and nature were sacred to them.

One third of the world’s indigenous people live in India

Another influential woman in India is Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, who announced early on that she would support Droupadi Murmu as a presidential candidate, facing competition from the BJP on the occasion. Banerjee wants to keep indigenous voters in some constituencies balanced. The Sanhals are the dominant community here, making up more than 50 percent of the population.

Nationwide, indigenous people make up about 8.6 percent of the population. One third of the world’s indigenous population, more than 104 million tribes, live in India. They are spread over 705 communities and represent a unique cultural diversity. Many suffer from illness, malnutrition, mental disorders and addictions. Many of them will see their interests represented by Murmu.

So it could be a good choice for India that Droupadi Murmu is an open and inclusive figure who has something to say about the rising tensions in the country. But it could also be a good choice for Narendra Modi and the BJP, who are under pressure especially internationally for their Hindu nationalist policies, which have both caused and benefited from some of these tensions.