Tribal woman leader is NDA pick for President

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

NEW DELHI: Droupadi Murmu, the former governor of Jharkhand, will be the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) nominee for the July 18 Presidential election, and most likely be the next President of the Republic. The decision to nominate her was taken at the meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s parliamentary board chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

The announcement came hours after 17 opposition parties decided to field former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, currently with the Trinamool Congress, as its consensus candidate, after its first three choices demurred.

In the NDA’S case, Murmu’s name was among the first to do the rounds, although, as the decision neared, there was speculation of a more mainstream choice. By picking Murmu, a woman and a tribal, the BJP has yet again walked the talk on inclusion and empowerment. Soon after Murmu was named the NDA’S candidate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that she will be a “great President” and said the former Jharkhand governor’s understanding of policy matters and compassionate nature will greatly benefit the country. “Droupadi Murmu Ji has devoted her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalised,” Modi tweeted.

Addressing the media, party president JP Nadda said, “Rajanth Singh and I spoke to the NDA and UPA (the Congressled United Progressive Alliance), but there was no consensus (with the UPA) and today UPA nominated their candidate. In today’s meeting, the Parliamentary Board decided that we will also announce our candidate.”

Nadda said it would have been good had the name been chosen through consensus between the government and the opposition. “…Almost 20 names were discussed. We decided to pick someone from the East and till

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date no woman from a tribal community has been picked for the post, so we picked the name of Droupadi Murmu,” he said. Murmu, 64, who hails from Odisha, served as the first woman governor of Jharkhand. Born into a Santal tribal family in 1958, she overcame significant hardship to complete her education and began her career as a