*Paromita Das
The appointment of Droupadi Murmu as India’s 15th president marks numerous accolades. Murmu is the first Indian head of State born after the Constitution was adopted, if Narendra Modi was the first Prime Minister (PM) born after India became a Republic. She is the youngest President (she is 64) and the second woman to hold the office, making history in the Republic’s social evolution as the first tribal leader from Odisha.
Murmu’s ascent from Rairangpur to Raisina Hill is noteworthy in a number of ways. For instance, she has previously spoken publicly about dealing with depression and intense personal grief, including losing two children and becoming widowed, at various points in her life, which is unusual for a politician.
Her victory also reopened political discussion on the nature and function of the Indian Presidency. Murmu’s opponents frequently point out that the move is merely symbolic and won’t provide tribal populations with many tangible benefits. The purpose of the presidency is overlooked by this argument.
Symbolism has always been a big part of the presidency. On July 21, 1947, during a discussion about the President’s role in the proposed Constitution, Jawaharlal Nehru argued that despite the fact that “we did not give him any real powers,” “we have made his position one of great authority and dignity.” Nehru argued that the president should be seen as a “symbol” of the country, first and foremost.
It’s important to note that Murmu’s elevation is a recurring tactical move. It is a natural extension of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s strategic political shift and its post-2014 targeted outreach to women and tribal groups. For context, 8.6% of India’s population, or 705 Scheduled Tribes (STs), have been notified. States’ tribal groups vary greatly, but one characteristic is shared: On almost all developmental indicators, STs perform worse than the rest of India. According to census data, there is still a 14 percentage point difference in literacy rates between STs, 59% and the overall Indian rate of 73%. It is worse for ST women.
The significance of the first tribal woman in Rashtrapati Bhavan is due to this.
Since 2014, the “New BJP” led by Modi has made significant gains in ST areas, in contrast to the “Old BJP,” which was predominately a Brahmin-Baniya party. Since the 1940s, cadres of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have operated in tribal areas. However, for many years, tribal groups tended to vote in Congress. In 2014, when the BJP won 26 of the 47 reserved ST seats in Parliament, the equation was dramatically reversed. The party increased this number of ST-reserved seats to 31 in 2019. (41.7% vote-share). The Congress, in contrast, only had four members (29.21% vote-share). Tribal voters are the majority in another 55 Lok Sabha seats in addition to the reserved seats. Here, too, the BJP won a majority: 36 (46% of the vote) in 2019.
This ST pivot reflected deeper inroads into non-Jatav-Dalit and non-Other Backward Class (OBC) Yadav groups. By giving these groups a much larger share in political representation structures, this was accomplished. The ST push by the BJP had a similar structure. There are currently eight ST Ministers on Modi’s council of ministers. More than the percentage of ST people in the general population, they make up 11.5% of his council. According to BJP president JP Nadda, with 27 OBC and 12 Dalit ministers, these two groups together make up more than 60% of PM Modi’s cabinet.
However, unlike its gains with OBC voters in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP’s electoral gains in ST areas did not repeat themselves in the state elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in 2018, where the Congress made a comeback. A Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition won in Jharkhand in 2019. The ST shift is still evolving and not set in stone.
It is no coincidence that the Union Cabinet proclaimed Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on November 15, the legendary tribal leader Birsa Munda’s birthday, in 2021. The significance of his birth week, which was observed as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav festivities, foreshadowed the Murmu administration.
Similarly, since 2014, the BJP’s electoral success has been fueled by new women voters. Historically, Indian women cast their ballots much less frequently than men and, on average, preferred the Congress to the BJP. The most recent general election marked the first time that more women than men turned out to vote.
According to survey data, more women supported the BJP than the Congress in the majority of important states. Once more, a factor was the increased representation of women in power structures.
In comparison to other Indian parties, the BJP gave more women Lok Sabha tickets in 2019. There are now 41 female members of parliament, which is the most. The BJP’s female representation in the Lok Sabha is more than four times bigger than the Trinamool Congress’, which is followed by the Congress’, and more than six times larger. In addition, women received a higher percentage of Ministerial positions under Modi’s two governments than under earlier administrations. In the Vajpayee administration, there were on average 9% female Ministers. Under the United Progressive Alliance governments of Manmohan Singh, women now make up an average of 11.2% of ministers. It was raised to an average of 12.7% under the Modi administration. In comparison to other major national parties, the BJP now has the highest percentage of women holding national office. In comparison to the central leadership of the CPI(M) (14.7%), Trinamool Congress (13%), CPI (11.1%), NCP (10.8%), and the Congress, it had 16.9% women as central officer-bearers in October 2020. (8.5%).
A woman tribal president is a logical step forward and a significant turning point in Indian politics for all of these reasons and more.
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