The new President of India, Droupadi Murmu, is not only the second woman to hold this position since independence (1947), but she has just set a historic precedent by becoming the first elected representative of the Adivasis (native) community at the top of the State. He was sworn in on Monday 25 July.
The post of president of India is of course an honor, and his power is comparable to that of a German or Italian president. But seeing this woman from the Santal tribe – a poor resident of central and eastern India – be elected president is an event in itself. The Adivasis, the so-called “indigenous” populations, have long remained marginalized and isolated, especially in the center and east of the country, in the forest states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and Odisha – states that haveI Murmu, 64, is from.
All ethnic groups represent 8.6% of India’s population, or about one hundred million people. Most of them (more than 80%) are listed as still living below the poverty line. In Uparbeda, the original village of Droupadi Murmu, people cook on firewood, draw water from a pump, and electricity has just been installed.
A former teacher, the new president held positions in government before becoming a professional politician and holding several ministerial posts in the local government of the state of Odisha. In 2015, he became governor of Jharkhand state, where nearly 30% of the population is tribal.
Expand electoral boundaries
A member of the People’s Party of India (BJP), the ruling nationalist formation, MI Murmu is also another piece on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political chessboard: allowing the singer of Hindu nationalist ideology to demonstrate that he is capable of broadening the social base of his training. Draupadi Murmu is the one who “empowering the poor, the oppressed, and especially the marginalized”welcome the Prime Minister.
“Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Choice [Corps national des volontaires, RSS – matrice idéologique du BJP] previously supported Drupadi Murmu in the previous presidential election five years ago, but at the time Narendra Modi feared losing the Dalit community vote [intouchable] : they did not take into account the opinion of the RSS and nominated another candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit”, recalls Arati Jerath, an Indian columnist. Therefore, it has become a question to broaden the base of the political community, but this time towards voters who are at the bottom of the caste system hierarchy.
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