Droupadi Murmu is a member of one of the largest of India\u2019s officially recognized tribes
\n NEW DELHI
\nIndia elected on Thursday a female politician from a tribal community as its new president, giving new visibility to a substantial minority group that has long been marginalized.
\nDroupadi Murmu, 64, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party from the eastern state of Odisha, belongs to the Santhal tribe, one of the largest of India\u2019s roughly 700 recognized tribes, which make up about 9 percent of the country\u2019s more than 1.4 billion population.
\nModi took to social media to announce Murmu\u2019s win, as election commission results showed that she had secured a majority of the votes cast by lawmakers from both houses of the parliament and the legislative assemblies of each of India\u2019s states and territories.
\n\u201cCongratulations to Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji on this feat,\u201d the prime minister said in a Twitter post.
\n\u201cIndia scripts history. At a time when 1.3 billion Indians are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a daughter of India hailing from a tribal community born in a remote part of eastern India has been elected our President!\u201d
\nMurmu is the second woman after Pratibha Devisingh Patil to serve as Indian president and will take over from incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind, whose term expires on July 25.
\nShe competed for the post with opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, who was a senior BJP leader before he left the party in 2018, following a divergence with Modi on economic issues. Sinha, 84, had served as the country\u2019s finance minister during the previous BJP government from 1998 to 2002, and as the foreign minister between 2002 and 2004.
\nMurmu\u2019s presence in the presidential role has been expected to boost the BJP\u2019s efforts to win tribal voters in state elections in Gujarat this year, and in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh next year. The four states account for nearly a half of India\u2019s tribal population.
\nBut for Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a Delhi-based writer and analyst specialized in Hindu nationalist politics, the victory will not necessarily translate into electoral gains.
\n\u201cHer victory is not significant for the tribals of the country. It is tokenism,\u201d he told Arab News. \u201cIt\u2019s not a game-changer for Modi. It puts opposition parties in lots of difficulties because it enabled the BJP to say that you are not supporting a tribal woman who faced an upper-caste Hindu man, Yashwant Sinha, as her opponent. But beyond that it is not going to help Modi.\u201d
\nMukhopadhyay was also skeptical about the impact Murmu\u2019s presidency will have on tribal communities, which belong to the lowest strata of India\u2019s caste hierarchy, as the Indian presidency is a largely ceremonial post because all executive authority is held by the prime minister.
\n\u201cIt will really not help them in improving their lot,\u201d Mukhopadhyay said. \u201cWe have seen that in the last five years that the state of marginalized people remained the same.\u201d
\nThe Indian presidency is a ceremonial role. The primary duty of the Indian president is to preserve the constitution, appoint the chief justice or attorney general. The president is also the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces, and can declare war or conclude peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Droupadi Murmu is a member of one of the largest of India\u2019s officially recognized tribes NEW DELHI India elected on Thursday a female politician from a tribal community as its new president, giving new visibility to a substantial minority group that has long been marginalized. Droupadi Murmu, 64, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-272706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n