India: BJP names tribal leader, opposition picks ex-minister as presidential candidates

Battle lines were drawn on Tuesday for India’s presidential election with the BJP-led NDA naming Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha, as its candidate while former Union minister Yashwant Sinha was declared as a joint nominee by major opposition parties.

BJP president JP Nadda announced the candidature of 64-year-old Murmu, former Jharkhand governor, following a meeting of the party’s parliamentary board, hours after opposition parties in a joint statement named Sinha, who was earlier with the BJP but fell out with the Modi-Shah leadership and joined the Trinamool Congress in March 2021.

Murmu will be the first tribal woman to occupy the top constitutional post if she is elected, a strong possibility as numbers are stacked in favour of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

With her nomination, the BJP is sending out a significant political message after elevating a Dalit, Ram Nath Kovind, to the top post five years back.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Murmu has devoted her life to serving society and expressed confidence that she will be a “great President”.

“Droupadi Murmu Ji has devoted her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalised. She has rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure. I am confident she will be a great President of our nation.

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“Millions of people, especially those who have experienced poverty and faced hardships, derive great strength from the life of Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji. Her understanding of policy matters and compassionate nature will greatly benefit our country,” Modi tweeted.

Considered soft-spoken and affable, the leader, who comes from Mayurbhanj, one of the more backward regions of Odisha, has held various positions in the party, rising through the ranks, and was a minister in the state when the BJP was in alliance with the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

The BJD, which stayed away from the opposition meet, welcomed the announcement.

Murmu said she was surprised as well as delighted by the announcement.

Incidentally, her name was also doing the rounds for the BJP’s likely choice for the top constitutional post in 2017.

As a tribal woman candidate of the ruling combine, her candidature may persuade many regional parties, not aligned to either the NDA or the opposition, to back her, BJP sources said. Even some opposition parties will not be seen to be opposing her, they added.

Opposition leaders, who gathered at the Parliament annexe for the meeting convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar to decide on a common candidate for the much-discussed presidential election, unanimously agreed on Sinha’s name.

“He is eminently qualified to uphold the secular and democratic character of the Indian Republic and its Constitutional values,” the joint statement said.

The veteran politician, who has been an MP from Jharkhand, “stepped aside” from the Trinamool Congress before the announcement of his name and will file his nomination papers on June 27.

Sinha’s name came up after Pawar, Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah declined the opposition’s offer to be their joint candidate for the top post.