Draupadi Murmu is a tribal leader from Odisha who has been named as the NDA’s candidate for the presidential polls next month. Murmu, 64 is a former Jharkhand governor who will be the first tribal woman to occupy the top constitutional post if elected. Let’s read about the unknown facts about this veteran leader…
- She was born on June 20, 1958 in Baidaposi village of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district and belongs to Santhal ethnic group.
- Murmu graduated from the Ramadevi Women’s University in Bhubaneswar with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979.
- Thereafter, she started working as a teacher before entering State politics in 1997 as the councillor of Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat.
- The same year, she was declared the VP of BJP’s Scheduled Tribes (ST) Morcha.
- Murmu was the State minister having independent charge of commerce and transport, fisheries and animal husbandry from 2000 to 2004.
- In 2007, she was conferred with the Nilkantha award for best MLA by Odisha Legislative Assembly.
- Over the next decade, she held several leading roles within the BJP, including the State president of the ST Morcha and the BJP district president of Mayurbhan.
- In 2015, she became the first tribal Governor of Jharkhand and completed her five-year term.
- As per reports, her father, Biranchi Narayan Tudu, and grandfather were the village headmen under the Panchayati Raj System.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed her after she was named the BJP-led NDA candidate for the upcoming presidential election.