Insight Bureau: Droupadi Murmu took oath as India’s 15th President, the highest constitutional post of the country on Monday.
Chief Justice of India NV Ramana administered the oath of office to Murmu at the Central Hall of Parliament.
The oath taking ceremony was followed by a 21-gun salute, after which Murmu addressed the gathering at the Central Hall.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind and his wife Savita Kovind extended greetings to the President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Ahead of her swearing-in ceremony as the 15th President of India, Droupadi Murmu paid floral tributes at the memorial of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in the national capital Delhi. She was escorted by the military and other officials.
She is the first tribal candidate and the second woman in the country to occupy the highest office in the country.
“I started my life journey from a small tribal village in Odisha. From the background I come from, it was like a dream for me to get elementary education. But despite many obstacles, my resolve remained strong and I became the first daughter of my village to go to college. I belong to the tribal society, and I have got the opportunity to become the President of India from the Ward Councilor. This is the greatness of India, the mother of democracy”, the President said in her address.
“It is the power of our democracy that a daughter born in a poor house, a daughter born in a remote tribal area, can reach the highest constitutional post of India. Reaching the post of President is not my personal achievement, it is the achievement of every poor in India. My election is proof that the poor in India can dream and make them come true”, Murmu added.
“In my life so far, I have experienced the meaning of life in public service. There is a line from Sant Kabi Bhima Bhoi, an eminent odia poet of Jagannath Kshetra: “Mo jibana pache narke padithau jagata udhara heu” that means, the work has to be done for the welfare of the world greater than the benefit and harm of one’s life” the daughter of Odisha added.