On 25 July 2022, Odisha’s Draupadi Murmu became the 15th President of the Republic of India. The former Governor of Jharkhand won by an overwhelming margin, with MPs, and MLAs across party lines voting for her.
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ମହାମହିମ ରାଷ୍ଟ୍ରପତିଙ୍କୁ ସ୍ୱାଗତ କଲେ ରାଜ୍ୟପାଳ ଓ କେନ୍ଦ୍ରମନ୍ତ୍ରୀ ଧର୍ମେନ୍ଦ୍ର ପ୍ରଧାନ । ଓଡିଶା ଗସ୍ତରେ ଆସିଛନ୍ତି ରାଷ୍ଟ୍ରପତି ଦ୍ରୌପଦୀ ମୁର୍ମୁ । @rashtrapatibhvn @GovernorOdisha @dpradhanbjp pic.twitter.com/AjhpoAb8E6
Yesterday on November 10, months after assuming the highest office in the country, the President visited her home state Odisha. The Odisha government under CM Naveen Patnaik prepared a grand welcome for Odisha’s daughter. CM Patnaik had earlier appealed to all MLAs and MPs from Odisha to rise above petty party politics and vote for her, even though she was the NDA candidate, because Draupadi Murmu becoming the President of India was an emotion that extended much beyond petty politics and usual political banter between parties, at both state and national level.
She hails from the ST community, born in a family of Santhal tribes in northern Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, in a nondescript village. India’s first President from the tribal community, Draupadi Murmu represents limitless possibilities and a million dreams. She is a message to every little girl in this country that nothing is beyond their reach.
There was a reason Odisha CM Patnaik, and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren supported her candidacy despite being in opposition parties, and those reasons are not just their personal friendship and respect towards her. Draupadi Murmu was a message of hope for millions of people in this country. A tribal girl from the region in Odisha that is called ‘backward’ and ‘undeveloped’, struggling with personal losses, rising from the grassroots level and becoming who she is is no mean feat. But that feat is possible. Achievable. President Murmu is a symbol of power and hope, not just for her community, but for all of us.
President Murmu’s visit to Puri Shri Jagannath Temple
After landing at the airport and receiving a grand welcome from CM Patnaik, Governor Ganeshi Lal and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, she headed to Puri Shri Jagannath temple. Like a true people leader, she broke VVIP protocols and walked all the way from the parking lot to the temple. The sight of thousands of people gathered on both sides of the Bada Danda, welcoming her with folded hands was proof of what she meant for the people of Odisha.
They don’t see her as a BJP leader, as a tribal leader or anything else. She is their own, the daughter of Odisha, coming home to greet her people after ascending to the highest office in the country.
In a rare gesture, President Droupadi Murmu walked about 2kms to seek the blessings of Lord Jagannath in Puri. Devotees greeted the President on her way to the 12th century shrine.
— OTV (@otvnews) November 10, 2022
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President Murmu was greeted by the priests of the Jagannath Temple and Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deba. Being an Odia, she knows how the Odia people greet Lord Jagannath, with open arms, and then bowing down to touch her forehead to the ground.
Everything from her walk, to her gesture of bowing down in a traditional ‘Mundia’ (touching the forehead to the ground in respect), to her message in the Temple visitor’s register handwritten in Odia, signed as ‘Bharatara Rashtrapati'(President of India) after her name, have been circulating in media and social media since yesterday. All those images are inspiring a million girls all over the country. This is what they can achieve in this country if they want to. Regardless of their caste, location, family background and social limits.
After her darshan at the Jagannath Temple, President Murmu moved to Puri Rajbhavan for a brief time, where she sat down to have the traditional Mahaprasad of Puri Jagannath temple. The Mahaprasad is cooked in earthen pots, and by tradition, is eaten while sitting on the floor. In an earlier article, we explained how Odia folklore narrates that Goddess Laxmi had ordered that no caste discrimination will ever be practised in the Jagannath Temple. Everyone, from all castes and tribes, and across socio-economic classes, will equally eat the Mahaprasad, sitting on the floor and touching it to their forehead.
Gajapati Maharaj, the traditional ruler of Kalinga and the chief servant of Lord Jagannath, and his queen sat down with the President to eat the Mahaprasad together.
President Droupadi Murmu partook of Mahaprasad of Jagannath Temple at Puri Rajbhawan, along with Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb and Maharani Leelavati Pat Mahadei pic.twitter.com/1E5UPbt1g0
— OTV (@otvnews) November 10, 2022
The images of President Draupadi Murmu are powerful for a lot of reasons. She is the symbol of a hundred shattered glass ceilings. A hundred broken barriers, and a beacon of hope. President Murmu is the proof that beyond the political nastiness, ugly wars of caste politics, socio-economical divisions and negativities that overwhelm the social and political landscape of this country, there lies powerful stories of positivity.
Her life and achievements are her own, not passed down from her father or mother, not handed over to her by her deceased husband. She is who she is by her own efforts, and in India’s political sphere, that is an achievement in itself.
If a poor Santhal girl from Uparbeda can become the Mahamahim President of India, there is absolutely nothing that can stop us. We, as a people, as Indians are very well capable of breaking the shackles that bind us, and achieving what was dreamt by the ancestors of this great civilisation.
