Who is Droupadi Murmu, the first Santal president of India?
Droupadi Murmu became the first tribal leader to be elected as India's new president, the highest constitutional office.
Hailing from eastern Indian state Odisha's tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district, Murmu (64), a Santal, began her career as a teacher before entering state politics, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
She has been a member of the state assembly twice in 2000 and 2009 on a BJP ticket, from her home town Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj.
Born on June 20, 1958, Droupadi Murmu became the vice-chairperson of the BJP's state Scheduled Tribe front in 1997.
Murmu was the first girl of her village Uparbeda to go to a college. Going against the general trend in Santhali society, she chose to go for higher studies and obtained a BA degree from Ramadevi Women's college in Bhubaneshwar, the capital city of Odisha.
She began working as a clerk in the Odisha secretariat and married Shyam Charan Murmu, a bank employee.
Murmu was elected to Odisha assembly when the BJP was an alliance partner of the state's ruling Biju Janata Dal, a powerful regional party, and became a minister holding key portfolios of Transport and Commerce and later Animal Husbandry and Fisheries in chief minister Naveen Patnaik-led coalition government.
Murmu, however, failed in her maiden attempt to become a member of the Lok Sabha in 2009 having lost in Mayurbhanj constituency. At that time, BJP and BJD had snapped their electoral alliance.
She went through a deeply painful phase of her life on the family front having lost her husband and two sons between 2009 and 2014.
In 2015, she became the first tribal Governor of tribal-dominated Jharkhand and remained in office till 2021.
Girls education has been a key focus of Murmu as Governor of Jharkhand and she set up a family-run residential school in Pahadpur village of Odisha for children belonging to economically weaker sections.
Residents in Rairangpur began much before the results became clear as her fans and BJP supporters distributed sweets and staged a tribal dance and victory procession.