Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday spoke to President-elect Droupadi Murmu and will leave for Delhi on Saturday on a four-day-visit during which he will attend her swearing-in ceremony on July 25.
Naveen tweeted: “Spoke to the daughter of Odisha, President-Elect Smt. Droupadi Murmu, over phone and wished her all the very best on behalf of people of Odisha. Entire family of 4.5 crore people of Odisha are proud of her achievement.”
Celebrations continued all across Odisha after Murmu was declared winner of the presidential poll. Frenzied celebrations continued in the entire tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district, from where Murmu hails.
“Her journey from a humble beginning to become the First Citizen of India is indeed inspiring and her journey is a shining example of women empowerment. Wish her the very best for a fulfilling tenure ahead,” Naveen tweeted.
On Thursday, tribals came out from their houses and danced till they were exhausted. Laddoos were distributed, community feasts were organised in Murmu’s ancestral village Upar Beda, her in-laws’ village Pahadpur and in Rairangpur town where she spent most of the time with her younger brother. All were in a festive mood.
From Rairangpur, she started her political journey as a councillor in 1997 and reached the highest office of the country by climbing one step after another in 25 years, becoming an MLA, a minister in the Naveen Patnaik (BJD-BJP coalition) government in 2000-2004 and governor of Jharkhand in 2015. While her political career has been successful, she suffered a lot in her personal life, losing her husband, three children and a brother. She has a daughter and a brother. Both are married.
As soon as news of her victory broke on social media, hundreds of tribals donned the traditional dresses like lumang phuta, katach (loincloth) and started dancing to traditional songs and music at Pahadpur. Before they started their dance, they offered puja before their santhal deities Marang Buru, Jaher Aayo, Lita Gosai and Moneko early in the morning.
Later interlocking their arms, they danced in a circular move matching to the beating drums.
The song speaks of — “We hail from this mother land... we are the sons and daughters of this beautiful land. Be Blessed Droupadi — our daughter. We all are proud of you.”
“We know how to dance, celebrate the success and enjoy,” Sunita Majhi, a 21-year tribal old girl of Pahadpur told The Telegraph. The entire village was fed with rice, dal, and chicken. There was no stopping of celebrations.
Haham Murmu, 45, of Pahadpur said: “We have collected money from the villagers. Every one contributed and we organised a community feast for nearly 2000 people. All of them were fed with rice, dal chicken, and other curry. They were also given sweets. (laddu)”:
There was also celebration at the residential school set up by Murmu in 2016 at Pahadpur where more than 100 students are still studying. “I want to be Droupadi Didi. Earlier I had set a goal to become a doctor. Now I want to be the Rastrapati,” Pragyna Paramita Dhal, a Class IX student told this newspaper. At the school, the children were fed with rice, dalma, khata, potal curry and sweets.
There were celebrations at Uper Beda village too and different block headquarters of the district. At Rairangpur town, Murmu’s younger brother Taranisen Tudu and sister-in-law Sakramani Tudu, struggled hard to attend the guests flowing into their house. In fact, celebrations erupted in this small town with a population of nearly 30,000. “This is the town where her journey took off. Here she started her career. So everyone is proud of her,” said Muna Pratihari.
Celebrations also broke out at the Aurobindo Integral Education Centre at Rairangpur, where Murmu was a schoolteacher between 1994 and 1997.
Nearly 20,000 ladoos were distributed in Rairangpur town, Besides, 5000 ladoos were distributed in Murmu’s in-laws’ village and a similar number of ladoos were distributed in her ancestral village.
