By Dr. Manik A.V. Bengeri

In the 2022 Presidential election, Droupadi Murmu defeated Yashwant Sinha. According to the official data, Murmu won a total of 6,76,803 votes against Sinha’s 3,80,177 votes. She would be the 15th President of the Republic of India.

Even before the results were declared, victory became clear and as such, the people of Odisha, especially of Mayurbhanj started celebrating the victory like they celebrate Diwali.

The residence of Murmu in Mayurbhanj was decorated within no time and people gathered on the roads singing, dancing, chanting slogans and distributing special sweets — the same scene was seen at Raisina Hill which will be Murmu’s official residence in New Delhi.

In a true sense, it is a journey of a brave woman’s struggle to success — one who has successfully travelled the difficult path amidst adversities and stood firmly not with self-interest but for the people.

In other words, we can be sure of good governance — where women are given respect and honoured. Our rich Indian culture has realised the importance and capacity of women thousands of years before and our Nation has survived only because of these high values in life.

The victory has come in 2022, the year of Amrit Mahotsav of India’s Independence. Though she is the second woman to occupy this high position, she is the first woman to occupy the position belonging to the backward tribal community of Odisha. Surely, it is not only a victory of NDA but it is a victory of India’s culture, which teaches us to worship women at the topmost position and this time it is our privilege to see a tribal woman becoming the First Citizen.

 It is a hard journey for any person to reach the country’s highest position, more so for a woman and Murmu is no exception. Her success story is full of difficulties, hard work and tolerance at every level.

Born on June 20, 1958, in Mayurbhanj to a poor family, her parents were unable to provide her with even basic requirements of life. However, she was destined to shine in life on her own and make everyone in her family feel proud. Her struggle started at an early age.

Her childhood was full of all scarcities which included a lack of proper drinking water, a proper place to stay, leave aside good education. Amidst all these adversities, Droupadi Murmu was determined to study and thrived.

She was the first graduate in her family as well as in her village. The doors of service opened for her and she joined in Irrigation Department of Orissa Government as a clerk. Here she was not satisfied with the nature of the job which was quite monotonous. She wanted to pass on her knowledge to the downtrodden children of the area and hence she preferred to become a teacher. Thus, she could fulfil her dream of making deprived children better educated.

Seeing her ability, people around her forced her to enter the social field and she became a Corporator (Nagar Sevak). Her journey to serve people never stopped at the local level. Later, she was elected as MLA and became a Minister. Not only did she occupy the post of Governor of Jharkhand but also was the first aboriginal woman to occupy this Gubernatorial post.

All her achievements are based on her ability, capacity, honesty, selflessness and strong urge to uplift society, especially the downtrodden classes. She never remained satisfied by self-elevation or individual progress. All the energy within and power, she utilised for the betterment of people. In a true sense, she is the follower of the main principle of democracy — for the people.

 In due course, she married Shyam Charan Murmu and became the mother of two sons and one daughter. She believed in simple living and followed non-exhibitive living. Even as a former Governor, she lived in a small house in Mayurbhanj avoiding any sort of facilities.

Though her success story is exemplary, her domestic front is not as smooth as expected or imagined by others. Destiny played a big role in her life and Droupadi Murmu had to go through all the unwanted tough incidents in her domestic life.

Unfortunately, she lost her first son in 2009 and her second son in 2012. Both these incidents were hard for the mother to accept and as a result, she went into depression. Her life became meaningless and unbearable. At such a critical time, she calmly surrendered herself to Indian philosophy, which gave her sufficient strength to come out of grief.

Within a month after her son’s accidental death, she lost her mother. Her husband died in 2014. She consoled herself and stood up again with the courage to serve the needy people.

She stood firm to serve and as such in 2015 she became the first woman Governor of Jharkhand where she served for 5 years. During her tenure, she gained a name as a disciplined and strong administrator and established good examples of being a polite servant of democracy.

June 20 was her birthday and as a coincidence, her name was confirmed as the nominee for the post of President on June 21. It was a big shock for her and a pleasant surprise for the citizens of India.

She visited the Shiva Temple at Mayurbhanj as usual, where she performed her daily services of cleaning the entire temple with a broom in one hand and water in the other. Later, she had a good chat with staff and priests — an epitome of simplicity. Let us all pray for her success and wish good luck to our nation.