Draupadi Murmu is proposed by BJP for the post of President. She is the former Jharkhand Governor and Tribal leader. Draupadi Murmu name was proposed against opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha for the election to be held this year on July 18.
First woman Tribal leader
Murmu, hails from Odisha. She will become the first woman tribal leader to contest for the country’s highest constitutional post, if elected. Earlier, she is also known to be ‘the first tribal woman Governor in the country.
She had a non-controversial tenure as the Governor of Jharkhand for more than 6 years. After the completion of her tenure, she left the Jharkhand Raj Bhavan for her village in Odisha’s Rairangpur on July 12, 2021 and has been living there since then.
BJP strategy
However, BJP is trying to use her to send the message across the country in many ways. Their main strategy is to tap the tribals of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh by giving her the post. Earlier, in 2017 too her name made the rounds for the post.
Draupadi Murmu Political career
According to Telangana Today, Murmu has a rich experience of more than six years as a Governor. Murmu had served twice as an MLA and once as a minister in Odisha. After that she was sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand on May 18, 2015.
It is said that she was always aware of the issues related to tribal affairs, education, law and order, and health of Jharkhand. On several occasions, she questioned decisions of the state governments, but maintained constitutional dignity and decency.
Ex-officio Chancellor
During her tenure as the ex-officio Chancellor of the Universities, the vacant posts of Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor were appointed in many universities of the state.
Senior Professor at Vinoba Bhave University Dr Shailesh Chandra Sharma recalls that she herself organised Lok Adalats on issues related to higher education in the state, in which about 5,000 cases of university teachers and employees were settled. In order to centralise the enrollment process in the universities and colleges of the state, she created the Chancellor’s portal.
Birth and career of Murmu
Born on June 20, 1958 in Odisha in a simple Santhal tribal family, Murmu started her political career in 1997. She was elected councillor of the district board in Rairangpur in 1997. Prior to joining politics, Murmu worked as an honorary assistant teacher at Sri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research, Rairangpur and as a junior assistant in the Irrigation Department, before joining politics.
She has been MLA twice in Odisha and also got a chance to work as a minister in the Naveen Patnaik government, when the BJP was in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal.
Murmu was also awarded the Neelkanth Award for Best Legislator by the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
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