India elects its 15th President

Droupadi Murmu’s win shows that democracy continues to have deep roots in the country

The President is the head of the state but not of the executive. He represents the nation but does not rule the nation. He is the symbol of the nation. These words by BR Ambedkar, the architect of India’s Constitution, in 1948, sum up the exalted position, one gilded in prestige but shorn of executive teeth or legislative muscle. The history of the Republic, however, is witness to the fact that the apparent lack of power has never come in the way of Rashtrapati Bhavan exercising its symbolic might by upholding the highest traditions of the freedom movement, setting an example of erudition and independence, and connecting with the people. Controversial decisions – like the Emergency – intersperse these men and women who took an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”.

The victory of 2022 has smoothened the BJP’s road to 2024.  (ANI)

Into this illustrious, if somewhat chequered, list was inducted a new name on Thursday when former Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu secured an overwhelming victory in the presidential electoral college, beating the Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha. There can be many takeaways from this. It marks the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s efforts to cement its base in India’s tribal heartland, bring more women, from rural and marginalised backgrounds, into its ideological fold, and burnish its credentials of representation, and its drive to become the party of the country’s downtrodden. Ms Murmu’s big win also underlines the ideological vacillation in the Opposition ranks and the absence of big ideas to take on the national hegemon. The victory of 2022 has smoothened the BJP’s road to 2024. But political analysis can wait. The day an Adivasi woman is elected to the highest office is one for hopeful reflection on democracy, which – despite a corroding compact between politicians and their constituents, problems of money, muscle, and transparency, and creeping majoritarianism – continues to keep alive the promise of a life of dignity to the marginalised. That a representative of a 100 million-strong community that battles structural inequities can be elevated as President shows that despite setbacks, democracy has deep roots in India.

Ms Murmu will steer India through a general election, and a time of greater social and economic ferment, when harsher vagaries in climate will hit those at the margins the hardest. But in her journey from Rairangpur to Raisina Hill – as an educator, administrator, politician, governor, and a self-made person who battled both deprivation and personal tragedy – there are signs that she is up to the task.