India‍‍`s first tribal president Droupadi Murmu takes oath

India‍‍`s president-elect Droupadi Murmu took the oath today to head the highest constitutional post of the country, followed by a 21-gun salute.

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana administered the oath, reports the NDTV.

India got Droupadi Murmu as its first tribal President as she scooped up over 50% of the total vote value after three rounds of counting on Thursday (21 July).

The former Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu, is India‍‍`s 15th and second female president. Murmu, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party‍‍`s nominee, succeeds President Ram Nath Kovind.

Murmu was widely expected to be that person, given the numbers in the camp of the BJP and its allies. She will become the first member of a tribal community (and only the second woman) to become president of India.

The 64-year-old Murmu comes from Odisha, the resource-rich but poorest state in India. She was raised in the Mayurbhanj district and had previously been a teacher.

From 2015 to 2021, she was the governor of Jharkhand. She served as the state‍‍`s longest-serving governor since the mineral-rich state‍‍`s formation in 2000.

She got into politics in 1997 after winning a seat on the Rairangpur city council. She later won BJP nominations and ran successfully for Rairangpur MLA in 2000 and again in 2009.

Between 2006 and 2009, she held the position of vice-president of the BJP‍‍`s Scheduled Tribes Morcha in Odisha. She has also won multiple elections for party president in the Mayurbhanj district.

Murmu‍‍`s personal life is tragic. She lost her husband and both of her sons.

She is a member of the Santhal tribe.  Her appointment to the top position is seen as the victory of tribal empowerment and the long-ignored political aspirations of the tribe.