Murmu spoke this after taking oath of office as the 15th President of India on Monday at an impressive ceremony in the well-packed and historic Central Hall of Parliament.
She created history as the first tribal head of State and the second woman to occupy the country’s highest constitutional post.
“It is a tribute to the power of our democracy that a daughter born in a poor house in a remote tribal area can reach the highest constitutional position in India. That I attained the post of President is not my personal achievement, it is the achievement of every poor person in India.
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”My election is a proof of the fact that the poor in India can have dreams and fulfil them too,” she said in her address, marking her journey from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj – one of the most underdeveloped districts in India– to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“That I attained the post of President is not my personal achievement, it is the achievement of every poor person in India” Murmu said in her journey from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj, one of the most underdeveloped districts in India to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Sworn in by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana at Parliament’s Central Hall, she succeeds Ram Nath Kovind, who is India’s youngest President at 64 and the first to be born after Independence.
Taking her oath of office in Hindi and in the name of Go, she pledged to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law.”
Earlier, the outgoing President Kovind and Ms Murmu escorted by the horse-mounted President’s Bodyguards had arrived to join a majestic procession from Rashtrapati Bhavan to the Parliament Building.
India’s new president was given a 21-gun salute after which she signed the oath register amid thunderous applause and thumping of desks.
Following the short ceremony, Ms Murmu and Mr Kovind were escorted out of the Central Hall amid the roll of drums and blowing of trumpets.
After a national salute by the President’s Bodyguard at Gate No 5 of the Parliament, the new President and her predecessor left in a ceremonial procession to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Under an overcast Delhi sky and the route from from Parliament up the Raisina Hill to the Rashtrapati Bhavan lined by personnel from Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force, the presidential convoy made its way slowly.
The new commander-in-chief of the armed forces inspected a tri-services guard of honour in the forecourt of the Rashtrpati Bhavan.
Former President Kovind and his family, who moved to their new address of 12 Janpath bungalow in Lutyens Delhi, were given a formal send-off by the Prime Minister and other dignitaries as well as the Rashtrapati Bhavan staffers.
Mr Murmu’s speech in the Central Hall espoused her vision of sabka prayas (everyone’s effort) and sabka kartavya (everyone’s duty) to fulfil the expectations of freedom fighters and citizens of independent India.
Starting as BJP councillor in Odisha’s Rairangpur Notified Area Council in 1997, she became a minister in Biju Janata Dal (BJD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government in the State between 2000 and 2004.
Ms Murmu had contested the 2014 Assembly election to represent Rairangpur, but lost to the BJD candidate.
In 2015, she was appointed Governor of Jharkhand, a post she held till 2021.
The unassuming tribal leader is believed to be deeply spiritual and a follower of meditation techniques of the Brahma Kumaris.
She embraced the movement after losing close family members including her husband, two sons and mother in a span of six years (2009-2015).
Her daughter, Itishree, is a bank employee in Odisha.
Celebrations were held in several places including Odisha, her home state and Jharkhand in honour of her remarkable journey through personal tragedies and triumphs.
Former President Ram Nath Kovind, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and CJI Ramana were on the dais while other dignitaries including former President of India Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were in the front row of the historic Central Hall.
