Draupadi Murmu has taken oath as President of Indian Republic on Monday morning. The oath was administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice NV Ramana. The ceremony took place in presence of former President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also were present. Odisha is the president’s native State. Draupadi, the first Adivasi woman and second woman to become president, visited Rajghat and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. Later she met outgoing president Kovind and his wife. She spoke at the joint session of the parliament soon after taking over. She tweeted “Johar, Namaskar.” “Johar” is the traditional greeting among the tribals. It was her first tweet as President. While she was taking the oath there were four persons on the dais. Draupadi, Kovind, Venkaiah Naidu and Ramana. It is a rare sight to watch two of the four most important dignitaries on the national stage who happened to be Telugus from Andhra Pradesh.
Draupadi Murmu said the wishes of the countrymen would enable her to discharge her duties of the highest office in the country efficiently. She exhorted the youth of the country to build the future of the country while they build their own future. She would be with the youth as president, she promised. The 64 years Murmu is the second lady after Pratibha Patil to become the president. She had beaten opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha on Thursday to become the first ever Adivasi woman to occupy the highest office in the country.
Draupadi said the very fact that she was elected to the highest office would prove that the poor in the country can dream and strive to realize their dreams. She was the first woman governor of Jarkhand. She was the first ever Adivasi woman governor in the history of the entire country thus far. She hails from Rairangpur, a village 160 km away from Bhuvaneshwar, the capital city of Odisha. There were celebrations in her village on Thursday and Monday as well. She was two-times BJP MLA. She was a minister of state in the cabinet of the BJD-BJP government headed by Naveen Patnaik. She handled commerce and transport. She started her political career as a councilor. She became vice-chairperson of the municipality. Then she was elected as MLA. Earlier she worked as assistant professor at Aurobindo Institute of Integrated Education and had a stint as assistant in irrigation department of Odisha State.
