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Small room, big connection: why President Murmu visited Room No. 11 in Odisha House
The President had previously served as a legislator and minister in Odisha
President Murmu also interacted with a member of the Assembly staff, who had served her during her tenure as a minister. (ANI Photo/Jitender Gupta)
The Odisha Legislative Assembly’s Room No 11, a small chamber on the ground floor, was the centre of attention on Thursday as it welcomed a previous occupant — the President of India.
President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday addressed the Odisha Assembly and also visited the room that had been her office during her tenure as a minister in Odisha’s BJD-BJP coalition government in the early 2000s.
Addressing members of the Assembly, the President said the place brought back old memories. The small room, presently allotted to a senior Assembly official, was recently renovated with a fresh coat of lamination, new tiles, furniture and carpet. The President met at least six Assembly members, who were her colleagues during her days as a legislator and a minister.
“We discussed a lot of issues of the past. She appreciated me and said that she learnt a lot from me,” said senior BJD MLA Pramila Mallik, who met the President at Room No 11.
President Murmu also interacted with a member of the Assembly staff, who had served her during her tenure as a minister.
Born to a Santhali tribal family on June 20, 1958, at Uperbeda village in the remote part of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, President Murmu started her career as a school teacher in a small town. She started taking part in electoral politics by contesting the 1997 civic body polls.
It was in 2000 that she first got to the Assembly, after winning from Rairangpur constituency on a BJP ticket. She then got into former chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s Council of Ministers. She was given the Commerce and Transport portfolios and later Fisheries and Animal Resources Development. She retained her Assembly seat for a second time in 2004.
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In 2007, Murmu received the Pandit Nilkanth Das–Best Legislator Award by the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
In her address to the state Assembly on Thursday, the President said that public representatives’ conduct and words should be such that by following them, their admirers and followers can help build society and the state.
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