A win for Indian democracy

Droupadi Murmu's election as president represents inclusiveness

Droupadi Murmu’s election as the 15th president of independent India and, at 64, the youngest to hold the office, reflects a significant moment for Indian democracy. As a tribal woman, Ms Murmu’s election as head of the Indian state is an affirmation of the values of social inclusiveness that undergird the Constitution. Although the tribals account for just 8 per cent of India’s population, they represent some of the country’s most disenfranchised communities. Ms Murmu’s election may not radically change their situation but her elevation to Rashtrapati Bhavan stands as a symbol of achievement and points to the opportunity open to the community. The Opposition criticism of the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’s) focus on identity politics in its selection of Ms Murmu must be balanced against the credentials of the candidate herself. Her political career is entirely self-made, safely clear of any dynastic taint, and all the more remarkable, given that she hails from the Santhal community of Mayurbhanj, one of the most under-developed districts in Odisha. Her career trajectory covers a wide range of administrative experience — from serving in the irrigation and power departments to overseeing ministries such as transport, commerce, fisheries and animal husbandry when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha. She had earned her place in the senior ranks of the BJP’s state unit by virtue of her capabilities rather than trading on her tribal identity or her gender, overcoming serial personal tragedies.

It has been said that she has earned her entrance to Rashtrapati Bhavan by dint of being largely non-controversial, implying that she is likely to focus on the ceremonial dignities of her office rather than interfering with the government’s ambitious legislative agenda in the months ahead or indulging in controversial commentary as some of her predecessors have been known to do. She comes in as head of state at a critical time, with Lok Sabha elections less than two years away. But her stint as governor of Jharkhand suggests that she has not shied away from deploying the constitutional checks and balances embedded in gubernatorial powers. In 2017, for instance, she did not hesitate to challenge the government of BJP chief minister Raghubar Das, returning two Bills that amended key tenancy Acts — the Chhota Nagpur Tenancy and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Acts — to empower the government to use agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. Both Bills sparked widespread tribal unrest and created an internal rift within the state unit, and that may have cost the party the state in the 2019 Assembly elections. To be sure, the NDA’s numbers in both Houses of Parliament ensured that Ms Murmu’s victory over the Opposition candidate, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, by a comfortable margin, was assured long before the first ballot boxes were opened. But the presidential election remains truly democratic in spirit since under electoral laws parties cannot issue whips to their members to vote in a certain manner or not. This leaves MPs and MLAs to vote with their conscience, making it one of the most genuinely democratic exercises in the republic as well.