These are times when strife, shortage, insecurity, and disruption appear to be the prevailing themes in much of the world.<\/p>\n
From the protracted Russia-Ukraine war and its many apparent and unfathomable repercussions, to the raging debates at the US Congress over the direly needed and long-overdue gun control legislation in a shootings-ravaged country, to the chronically unstable and violence-ridden Af-Pak region in neighbourhood, to the misguided protests over the Agnipath scheme and the political drama in Maharashtra at home \u2013 the list is long. Not to mention the big media circuses that sensationalise all such unfortunate circumstances and developments in a rabid rat race for TRP or other commercial purposes.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the news about Odisha\u2019s very own Draupadi Murmu being nominated as the BJP-led NDA\u2019s presidential candidate came not only as a breath of fresh air but also as a sign of reassurance that there is still enough hope in the world for good things to happen to the right people.<\/p>\n
Never mind what political pundits have been saying about the logic, calculations and reasons behind her nomination, or the possible implications of her near-certain appointment to the top post of the country next month. Her nomination was a reaffirmation of the fact that India is a thriving democracy which is moving forward with its commitment to providing equal opportunities to people from all sections of the society, and that it is increasingly becoming a nation where honesty, hard work and merit \u2013 not caste, cronyism and family background \u2013 will determine their future prospects, prestige and position in the society.<\/p>\n
Equally importantly, Murmu\u2019s life story is a testament to the indomitable resilience of the human spirit. Despite all the odds that had been stacked against her right from her birth in one of the poorest and remotest corners of the country to all the personal tragedies she had to go through over the course of her life so far, she kept fulfilling all the responsibilities she was given \u2013 whether it be as a teacher, a political leader or a governor \u2013 exemplarily. She seems to have followed what Lord Krishna advised Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita about focusing on performing one\u2019s prescribed duty without getting attached to \u2013 or worrying over \u2013 the eventual outcome.<\/p>\n
The true measure of a person\u2019s greatness is not evidenced in the list of achievements presented on their CVs; it is revealed in the love and respect that other people \u2013 those who have worked with them, or been around them, or have been benefitted by them \u2013 have for them.<\/p>\n
Of course, there is no dearth of impressive highlights in Murmu\u2019s official r\u00e9sum\u00e9. But those are not what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would have focused much on before deciding to support her nomination. It is her glowing reputation and hard-earned goodwill as a dedicated social worker, as an epitome of women\u2019s empowerment and as a compassionate political leader who has been an outstanding representative of the tribal community over the past many decades that have together made her poised for pole position in the presidential race.<\/p>\n
Murmu\u2019s nomination goes far beyond just making Odisha and the tribal community proud. It is a veritable victory of the values that our Constitution \u2013 and India at large \u2013 stands for. May God bless her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These are times when strife, shortage, insecurity, and disruption appear to be the prevailing themes in much of the world. From the protracted Russia-Ukraine war and its many apparent and unfathomable repercussions, to the raging debates at the US Congress over the direly needed and long-overdue gun control legislation in a shootings-ravaged country, to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18470,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18469\/revisions\/18470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}