Anita Anand | What Droupadi as President will mean for tribals? Not very much

On July 25, Droupadi Murmu was sworn in as the 15th President of India. She is the second woman and the first tribal person to become India’s First Citizen. A member of the ruling BJP, Ms Murmu belongs to the Santhal tribe of Odisha, a tribe spread over four states and the largest after the Bhils and Gonds.

Ms Murmu’s election to the nation’s highest office is seen as a triumph by various rights groups, whose agenda has long been neglected, mainly by Adivasis, as tribals are also called, and women. But will she be a champion for tribal rights and women’s rights? There is little historical evidence to indicate this.

The first woman President, Pratibha Patil, a member of the Congress, served from 2007 to 2012. Her tenure is best described as “lacklustre” and was riddled with scandals over the use of public funds for personal gain. No leadership or notable gains for women were recorded, except in the fields of charity and welfare. Ram Nath Kovind, President from 2017 to 2022, also a BJP member, was the second president from the Dalit community. In his tenure, grave violations of Dalit rights were recorded. In 2021, the government reported that nearly 139,045 cases of crimes against Dalits were registered between 2018 and 2020, with 50,291 such crimes reported in 2020.

Are such appointments of women and individuals from the minorities just tokenism? Do we expect too much from individuals who are merely a spoke in the political wheel of governance? What would make a difference?

Women, who are not a minority, are still underrepresented in public life. The Women’s Reservation Bill, first introduced in 1996, aimed to achieve 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies, didn’t get too far. The idea for the bill lay in the 1993 Constitution amendment which established a quota of one-third of all seats for women in panchayati raj or local politics. Twenty-six years later, the bill is yet to pass.

In 2021, according to Election Commission data, 10.5 per cent of all members of Parliament were women. Members of Legislative Assemblies across all states were a national average of nine per cent. In the last 75 years of Independence, women’s representation in the Lok Sabha has not increased even by 10 per cent. No critical mass of women here.

Why is this significant?

Globally, the idea of quotas for women was developed and popularised during the UN Conferences on Women (1975-1995). Recognising that women were lacking in decision-making positions, scholars researched the need to reach a critical mass of women. An American feminist scholar studied incidents of women in business looking for sex-based differences. She reviewed studies of the behaviour of the minorities in task-oriented groups seeking which level of participation was necessary for minority members to function effectively as a group to press their interests.

She found that at least 30 per cent of minority members was needed for this. Important conclusion: At levels lower than that, effectiveness required the minority members to act more like those of the majority, and failing that they would be ineffective dissenters. Danish feminist and political scientist Drude Dahlerup carried these findings further and argued that the critical mass phenomena would apply to politics as well.

Many Adivasis, like women, have been mainstreamed into Indian life. Yet, thousands remain in the margins, fighting for collective rights to self-determination and protection of their lands, territories and natural resources. Under the BJP government, both national and state policies continue to violate the traditions and culture of the Adivasis. There is resistance to these policies like the Pathalgari Movement, launched in Jharkhand in 2017 against leasing out land acquisition by the Jharkhand government. Two ordinances for amending the land laws were tabled and passed in the Assembly within three minutes without discussion, amendments that would weaken both the land safeguarding laws made for Adivasis.

Could Pratibha Patil, Ram Nath Kovind and other past Presidents from the minorities do much for their communities? Not unless they have a critical mass of 30 per cent. They have been and will continue to remain mere figureheads. And we must remember they have been elected to serve all Indians.

Former US President Barack Obama, when asked in 2011, three years into his presidency, whether he had done enough for black people, said: “I’m not the President of black America but of the United States of America. I want all Americans to have opportunity. The programmes in place have been directed to those who have been locked out, in the past, of opportunities that were available to everybody. So, I’ll put my track record up in terms of putting in place broad-based programmes that ultimately have a huge benefit for African American businesses.”

Ms Murmu’s election cannot mean much, except to make Adivasis and women feel good that one of theirs has reached the highest office of the land. Ms Murmu will toe the BJP line.

There is no critical mass of Adivasis or women in government to make a difference to their lives. That’s it.

The reality of the Adivasis is well portrayed in Santhali author Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s book and story titled The Adivasi Will Not Dance. It was inspired by the 2013 visit to Jharkhand by President Pranab Mukherjee to inaugurate an ambitious thermal plant project that would displace Adivasis, making them homeless. In the story, Mangal Murmu who had trained dance troupes for years, refuses to sing and dance for the high-profile function. Exercising agency, Mangal Murmu refused to perform, saying: “The Adivasi will not dance.”

How will President Murmu deal with a situation like this?