Projecting Droupadi Murmu’s nomination as the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) presidential candidate as a testament of its inclusive politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful that it will consolidate its position and address a perceived leadership deficit among tribal communities. Murmu is a tribal leader from the Santhal tribe in Odisha.

Tribal communities that make up 8.6% of country’s population are an important constituency for the BJP that banks on a coalition of castes, especially the socially and economically marginalised communities, to cement its votebank. The party’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamevak Sangh (RSS) has over the years focused on building networks with tribal communities, which it fears are vulnerable to proselytisation by non-Hindu faiths.

Meanwhile, opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha asserted on Thursday that as a former Union minister he has done “much more” than his NDA rival Droupadi Murmu for Scheduled Tribes and other disadvantaged communities and questioned her record for their welfare in her various positions including as Jharkhand governor.