The BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate, Droupadi Murmu a tribal leader from Odisha could be the next occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. She has overcome many personal tragedies in her life. Here are some interesting points about Droupadi Murmu.
If elected, she will be the first tribal President and second female President of India.
She hails from Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.
Living in one of the state’s most underdeveloped regions, her family struggled with poverty. Despite her family’s difficult situation, she went on to graduate from the Ramadevi Women’s College in Bhubaneswar.
Before entering state politics, she worked as a teacher.
She became MLA twice, on BJP ticket, from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj (2000 and 2009).
During the BJP-BJD coalition government that came to power in 2000, she held the Commerce and Transport, and, subsequently, the Fisheries and Animal Husbandry portfolios.
She was conferred with “Nilakantha Award” for the Best MLA of the year 2007 by the Odisha Assembly. She also served as BJP’s District President for Mayurbhanj (West).
She was sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand in the year 2015.
She has seen much tragedy in her life. She lost her husband and two sons, mother and brother.
Murmu’s daughter works in a bank in Odisha.
It is said that after losing many important people in her life, she became a keen practitioner of the meditation techniques of the Brahma Kumaris.
Murmu is an excellent orator in Santhali and Odia languages.