Dare to dream, can come true: Murmu in first address as President of India

Droupadi Murmu, who was sworn in as India’s 15th President, on Monday not only emphasised progress for everyone (sabka vikas), but also everyone’s duty (sabka kartavya) as her guiding principle. She spoke in Hindi. In her address that lasted a little over 18 minutes, Murmu reminded the nation of its duties on a day four Congress Members of Parliament were suspended from the Lok Sabha for repeatedly obstructing the House. She said education, especially for girls, would be her central focus as she understood the value of education more than anyone else as she began life from a small tribal village in Odisha.

“From the background that I come from, it was like a dream for me to get elementary education. But despite many obstacles, my determination remained strong and I became the first daughter of my village to go to college. I belong to a tribal society. I have got the opportunity to rise from serving as a ward councillor to becoming President of India. It is a tribute to the power of our democracy that a daughter born in a poor house in a remote tribal area can reach the highest constitutional position in India,” she said in her first speech as President, saying her election was “proof that the poor in India can dream and make it come true”.

“It is a matter of great satisfaction for me that those who have been deprived for centuries and those who have been denied the benefits of development, those poor, downtrodden, backward and tribal, are seeing their reflection in me,” she said.

India’s youngest President at 64 and the first to be born after Independence paid customary tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. Whilst recalling the contribution of other leaders to India’s democracy and freedom, she mentioned Nehru, Ambedkar, and Sardar Patel, along with militant leaders like Bhagat Singh, omitting Savarkar and other icons of the Bharatiya Janata Party. She also paid tribute to Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

New names were added to leaders of the freedom struggle, not normally recalled: Rani Laxmibai, Rani Velu Nachiyar, Rani Gaidinliu, and Kittur Rani Chennamma. Tribal revolts like the Santhal Revolt, Paika Rebellion, Kol Mutiny, and Bhil Uprising were also mentioned by her. She paid an especially warm tribute to Birsa Munda.

Murmu quoted Odia poet Bhima Bhoi: “Mo jeeban pachhe narke padi thau, jagato uddhar heu” (working for the welfare of the world is far greater than one’s own interests).

But for the most part, her speech was an endorsement of the government’s programmes: the speed with which it had managed to conquer Covid-19, India’s leadership of the world (as India prepares to take over the chairmanship of the Group of Twenty), the digital revolution India has achieved, the ‘Vocal for Local’ programme, and Industrial Revolution 4.0.

The new President said sustainable development was crucial: “I was born in that tribal tradition which has lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years. I have realised the importance of forests and water bodies in my life”.

She recalled her own work as a teacher at the Sri Aurobindo Integral School in Mayurbhanj and said Aurobindo’s 150th anniversary must be celebrated with the prominence the leader deserved.