Bhubaneswar, June 22: The BJP-led NDA Govt on Tuesday night chose former Jharkhand Governor and the acclaimed tribal leader Draupadi Murmu of Odisha as its candidate for the post of President. She will compete against opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha for the election to be held on July 18.
After announcing #DroupadiMurmu as NDA’s Presidential candidate, #BJP chief #JPNadda (@JPNadda) said that her personality “is an inspiration and a benchmark for us to follow”. pic.twitter.com/q7YtFeEqCu
— IANS (@ians_india) June 22, 2022
It is a unique coincidence that both the presidential poll candidates — Draupadi Murmu and Yashwant Sinha — share a deep connection with Jharkhand.
Murmu, who has been declared a presidential candidate by the NDA alliance, has previously served as the Jharkhand Governor for 6 years. On the other hand Yashwant Sinha has been a three-time MP from Hazaribagh Lok Sabha constituency in Jharkhand.
Draupadi Murmu has remained with the BJP, but Yashwant Sinha, who was previously a national-level BJP leader for nearly two decades and a minister in Vajpayee-led government. Sinha left the party in 2021 and was with the Trinamool Congress before resigning to be a candidate for the President’s post.
After completing her term as the Governor of Jharkhand Murmu has left for her native city Rairangpur (Odisha).
Now exactly a year later, in July 2022, the ruling NDA alliance has nominated her for the country’s highest constitutional post.
Born on June 20, 1958 in Odisha to a simple Santhal(tribal) family, she started her political career in 1997 being elected as the Councilor of the district board in Rairangpur.
Prior to joining politics, she had worked as an honorary assistant teacher at Sri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research, Rairangpur, and as a junior assistant in Odisha Irrigation Department.
Murmu was elected twice as an MLA in Odisha and also got a chance to work as a Minister in the Naveen Patnaik government when the BJD-BJP coalition government was in power.
She was also awarded the Neelkanth Award for the best legislator by the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has wished Murmu, being nominated as Prez candidate of NDA Govt.:
Congratulations Smt #DraupadiMurmu on being announced as candidate of NDA for the country’s highest office. I was delighted when Hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji discussed this with me. It is indeed a proud moment for people of #Odisha.
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) June 21, 2022
The Opposition Presidential candidate, Yashwant Sinha started his political career in 1984 after taking voluntary retirement as an IAS officer.
He was fielded as a Janata Party candidate from the Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, but faced a huge electoral defeat. Later in 1988, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and served as the Union Finance Minister during the Chandrashekhar-led government at the Centre.
In 1995, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and was fielded as the party candidate from the Ranchi Assembly constituency. Thereafter, he became a member of the Bihar Assembly.
Later, Sinha was also elected as the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly.
However, only after a year and a half, the BJP decided to nominate him to the Upper House of Parliament.
Later, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Hazaribagh constituency in 1998, 1999 and 2009. He also served as a Cabinet Minister during the then Vajpayee government at the Centre.
According to analysts Murmu’s selection for the top post can be a part of the BJP’s strategy to make inroads into the tribal society, which has been a bastion of the Congress so far.
The BJP is eyeing upcoming state Assembly elections, and tribal are its main focus area in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh where their votes are crucial for the party.
Murmu had served twice as an MLA and once as a minister in Odisha, before being sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand on May 18, 2015. Her five-year term as governor was to end on May 18, 2020, but was automatically extended due to non-appointment of a new Governor due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.
She was always aware of the issues related to tribal affairs, education, law and order, and health of Jharkhand. On several occasions, she questioned decisions of the state governments, but always with constitutional dignity and decency. During her tenure as the ex-officio Chancellor of the Universities, the vacant posts of Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor were appointed in many universities of the state.
Senior Professor at Vinoba Bhave University Dr Shailesh Chandra Sharma recalls that she herself organised Lok Adalats on issues related to higher education in the state, in which about 5,000 cases of university teachers and employees were settled. In order to centralise the enrollment process in the universities and colleges of the state, she created the Chancellor’s portal.
