Droupadi Murmu takes oath as India's 15th President, says 'reaching Presidential post not my personal achievement, it is...'

In her first address as President, Droupadi Murmu said that her election to the top constitutional post proves that in India, the poor can not only dream but also fulfill those aspirations.

Droupadi Murmu takes oath as India's 15th President, becomes first tribal woman to occupy highest office

New Delhi: Droupadi Murmu on Monday (July 25, 2022) took oath as the 15th President of India and became the first tribal woman to occupy the highest office in the country. Murmu, 62, is the first President of the country who was born in independent India. She was administered oath by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana at a ceremony that was held at Parliament's Central Hall in the presence of former president Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi amongst others.

In her first address as President, Murmu said that her election to the top constitutional post proves that in India, the poor can not only dream but also fulfill those aspirations.

"I have been elected during an important time when the country is marking 75 years of Independence," she said.

Noting that she was the first President to be born after Independence, Murmu said that it was her "good fortune" that she has assumed the position at a time when the country is celebrating " Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" to mark the 75th anniversary of its freedom.

LIVE: Swearing-in-Ceremony of the President-elect Smt Droupadi Murmu https://t.co/34DbgoUw1H

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) July 25, 2022

"Reaching this office is not my personal achievement but that of all the poor people in the country," Murmu added.

"My election is proof of the fact that in India, the poor can dream and also fulfill those dreams," she said.

'Power of India's democracy': Droupadi Murmu after taking oath as President

Droupadi Murmu said that it is the "power of India's democracy" that a girl born in a poor tribal home could reach the topmost constitutional post. In her speech, she also stressed speeding up efforts to meet the expectations that the freedom fighters had from the citizens of independent India.

India's first tribal President also recalled that she grew up in a small tribal village where even getting primary education was like a dream and she went on to become the first person in the village to enroll for college education.

She also praised the government's "vocal for local" and "Digital India" initiatives.

Earlier in the day, outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind escorted his successor Droupadi Murmu from the Rashtrapati Bhawan to Parliament House for the oath-taking ceremony in a presidential limousine. Kovind and Murmu walked down the 31 majestic steps of the Rashtrapati Bhawan to the saluting dais where they took the presidential salute.

The president's bodyguards rendered the national anthem after which the two were taken in the presidential limousine which moved out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan through the iron gates escorted by the President's bodyguard towards Parliament House for the formal swearing-in ceremony.

At the steps of Gate No. 5 of Parliament House, the President was given a national salute by the President's bodyguards with the President-elect standing by his side.

They walked in a procession to the Central Hall of Parliament where they were welcomed to a roll of drums, which indicates the arrival of the president.

Murmu also paid floral tributes at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi in Raj Ghat on Monday morning, ahead of her swearing-in ceremony.

LIVE: President-elect Smt Droupadi Murmu pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat https://t.co/72sto2wDl3 — President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) July 25, 2022

Who is Droupadi Murmu, India's 15th President?

Droupadi Murmu was born in a Santali tribal family on June 30, 1958, in Uparbeda village in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district. She completed her education in Bhubaneswar and went on to work first as a junior assistant in the State Irrigation and Power Department from 1979 to 1983. 

After this short stint as a clerk, she became a teacher at Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre at Rairangpur till 1997.

Droupadi Murmu entered politics in 1997 

Murmu commenced her journey in the field of politics in 1997 by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She was first elected as the councilor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat and then went on to become the chairperson of the same panchayat in 2000. Later, she also served as the national vice president of the BJP Scheduled Tribe Morcha.

Murmu became a member of the council of ministers in the BJP and Biju Janata Dal coalition government in Odisha, first becoming the minister of state with independent charge for commerce and transportation from March 2000 to August 2022 and then minister for fisheries and animal resources development from August 2002 to May 2004. 

A legislator from the Rairangpur assembly constituency in the years 2000 and 2004, Droupadi Murmu was conferred Nilkhantha Award for the best MLA by the Odisha assembly in 2007.

In 2015, she became the first woman governor of Jharkhand and also the first woman tribal leader from Odisha to be appointed as the governor of a state.

Droupadi Murmu, India's first tribal President, overcame great personal tragedies

During her political journey, Droupadi Murmu faced several lows in her life. Her husband Shyam Charan Murmu passed away in 2014.

She also lost both of her sons, all in a span of just four years.