Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, Indian independence activist, journalist & scholar who served as the first president of Republic of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

during the

Indian Independence Movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

and became a major leader from the region of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

and Maharashtra. A supporter of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, Prasad was imprisoned by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of 1931 and the Quit India movement of 1942. After the constituent assembly

1946 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1946. Africa * French legislative election, November 1946 (French Equatorial Africa) * French legislative election, November 1946 (Guinea) * 1946–1947 Moyen-Congo Representative Council election * 19 ...

, Prasad served as Minister of Food and Agriculture in the central government. Upon independence in 1947, Prasad was elected as President of the

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

, which prepared the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

and served as its provisional

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. When India became a republic in 1950, Prasad was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

its first president by the Constituent Assembly. As president, Prasad established a tradition for non - partisanship and independence for the office-bearer and retired from Congress party politics. Although a ceremonial head of state, Prasad encouraged the development of education in India and advised the Nehru government on several occasions. In 1957, Prasad was re-elected to the presidency, becoming the only president to serve two full terms. Prasad stayed in office for the longest term of around 12 years. Post the completion of his tenure, he quit the Congress and set up new guidelines for parliamentarians which are still followed.

Early life

Rajendra Prasad was born in a Kayastha family in Ziradei, in the

Siwan district Siwan district is one of the districts of Bihar state, India. Siwan town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Siwan district is a part of Saran Division since 1972. The district was previously also known as Aliganj Siwan after ...

of Bihar during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. His father, Mahadev Sahai Srivastava, was a scholar of both

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

Persian languages Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...

. His mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a devout woman who would tell stories from the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

and

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

to her son. He was the youngest child and had one elder brother and three elder sisters. His mother died when he was a child, and his elder sister then took care of him.

Student life

After the completion of traditional elementary education, he was sent to the Chapra District School. Meanwhile, in June 1896, at the early age of 12, he was married to Rajavanshi Devi. He, along with his elder brother, Mahendra Prasad, then went to study at T.K. Ghosh's Academy in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

for a period of two years. He secured first in the entrance examination to the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...

and was awarded Rs. 30 per month as a scholarship. Prasad joined the

Presidency College, Calcutta Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

in 1902, initially as a science student. He passed the F. A. under the

in March 1904 and then graduated with a first division from there in March 1905. Impressed by his intellect, an examiner once commented on his answer sheet that the "''examinee is better than examiner''". Later he decided to focus on the study of arts and did his M.A. in Economics with a first division from the University of Calcutta in December 1907. There he lived with his brother in the

Eden Hindu Hostel Eden Hindu Hostel ( bn, ইডেন হিন্দু হোস্টেল), established in 1886, was primarily built for Hindu students of Presidency University, Kolkata, India. The hostel is now open for students of all religions. It is now m ...

. A devoted student as well as a public activist, he was an active member of The Dawn Society. It was due to his sense of duty towards his family and education that he refused to join Servants of India Society, as it was during that time when his mother had died as well as his sister became a widow at the age of nineteen and had to return to her parents' home. Prasad was instrumental in the formation of the Bihari Students Conference in 1906 in the hall of Patna College. It was the first organisation of its kind in India and produced important leaders from

like Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Krishna Singh who played a prominent role in the Champaran Movement and

Non-cooperation Movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

Career

As a teacher

Prasad served in various educational institutions as a teacher. After completing his M.A in economics, he became a professor of English at the Langat Singh College of

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth ...

and went on to become the principal. However, later on he left the college to undertake legal studies and entered the Ripon College, Calcutta (now the

Surendranath Law College Surendranath Law College (''Bengali'' :সুরেন্দ্রনাথ আইন কলেজ) formerly known as ''Ripon College'') is an postgraduate law college affiliated with the University of Calcutta. It was established in Kolkata in ...

). In 1909, while pursuing his law studies in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

he also worked as Professor of Economics at Calcutta City College.

As a lawyer

In 1915, Prasad appeared in the examination of master's in law from the

Department of Law, University of Calcutta The Department of Law, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, formerly University College of Law, is a faculty in the University of Calcutta, founded in 1909, colloquially referred to as Hazra Law College, which offers undergraduate, pos ...

, passed the examination and won a gold medal. He completed his Doctorate in Law from

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

.In 1916, he joined the High Court of Bihar and Odisha. In 1917, he was appointed as one of the first members of the Senate and of the Patna University. He also practised law at

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern banks of the river Ganges. It is the 2nd largest city of Bihar by population and also the headquarters of Bhagalpur district and Bhagalpur division. Known as the Si ...

, the famous silk town in Bihar.

Role in the freedom Movement

Prasad had a major role in the Independence Movement. Prasad's first association with

was during 1906 annual session organised in Calcutta, where he participated as a volunteer, while studying in Calcutta. Formally, he joined the

in the year 1911, when the annual session was again held in Calcutta. During the Lucknow Session of Indian National Congress held in 1916, he met

. During one of the fact-finding missions at

Champaran Champaran is a region of Bihar in India. It is now divided into an East Champaran district and a West Champaran district. Notable people * Manoj Bajpai – Indian film actor * Dinesh Bhramar – poet and noted figure in Hindi and Bhojpuri l ...

asked him to come with his volunteers. He was so greatly moved by the dedication, courage and conviction of Mahatma Gandhi that as soon as the motion of Non-Cooperation was passed by

in 1920, he retired from his lucrative career of lawyer as well as his duties in the university to aid the movement. He also responded to the call by

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

to boycott Western educational establishments by asking his son, Mrityunjaya Prasad, to drop out of his studies and enrol himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, an institution he along with his colleagues founded on the traditional Indian model. During the course of the independence movement, he interacted with

Rahul Sankrityayan Rahul Sankrityayan (born Kedarnath Pandey; 9 April 1893 – 14 April 1963) was an Indian writer and a polyglot who wrote in Hindi. He played a pivotal role in giving travelogue a 'literary form'. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars ...

, a writer, and polymath. Rahul Sankrityayan was greatly influenced by Prasad's intellectual powers, finding him to be a guide and guru. In many of his articles he mentioned about his meeting with Sankrityayan and narrated about his meetings with Sankrityayan. He wrote articles for the revolutionary publications ''Searchlight'' and the ''Desh'' and collected funds for these papers. He toured widely, explaining, lecturing, and exhorting the principles of the independence movement. He took an active role in helping people affected by the 1914 floods that struck Bihar and

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. When an earthquake affected Bihar on 15 January 1934, Prasad was in jail. During that period, he passed on the relief work to his close colleague Anugrah Narayan Sinha. He was released two days later and set up Bihar Central Relief Committee on 17 January 1934 and took on the task of raising funds to help the affected people. After the 31 May

1935 Quetta earthquake Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

, when he was forbidden to leave the country due to government's order, he set up the Quetta Central Relief Committee in Sindh and

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

under his own presidency. He was elected as the President of the

during the Bombay session in October 1934. He again became the president when

Subhash Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...

resigned in 1939. On 8 August 1942, Congress passed the Quit India Resolution in Bombay which led to the arrest of many Indian leaders. Prasad was arrested in

Sadaqat Ashram Sadaqat Ashram is located in Patna, Bihar, beside the main road of Digha area, on the banks of the River Ganges, almost seven kilometres from the airport. This was one of the residences of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, who l ...

, Patna and sent to Bankipur Central Jail. After remaining incarcerated for nearly three years, he was released on 15 June 1945. After the formation of

Interim Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

of 12 nominated ministers under the leadership of

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

on 2 September 1946, he was allocated the Food and Agriculture department. He was elected as the President of

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

on 11 December 1946. On 17 November 1947 he became Congress President for a third time after J. B. Kripalani submitted his resignation.

Presidency

State Visits by President Rajendra Prasad

Two and a half years after independence, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of independent India was ratified, and he was

as the first

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

. Unfortunately, on the night of 25 January 1950 (a day before the

Republic Day of India Republic Day is a public holiday in India where the country marks and celebrates the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950. This replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the governing document of India ...

), his sister Bhagwati Devi died. He arranged her cremation but only after his return from the parade ground. As the President of India, Prasad duly acted as required by the Constitution and was independent of any political party. He travelled the world extensively as an ambassador of India, building diplomatic rapport with foreign nations. He was re-elected for two consecutive terms in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

and

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

and is the only President of India to achieve this feat. The

Mughal Gardens Mughal gardens are a type of garden built by the Mughals. This style was influenced by the Persian gardens particularly the Charbagh structure, which is intended to create a representation of an earthly utopia in which humans co-exist in perfe ...

at the

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

were open to public for about a month for the first time during his tenure, and since then it has been a big attraction for people in Delhi and many other parts of the country. Prasad acted independently off politics, following the expected role of the president as required the constitution. Following the tussle over the enactment of the

Hindu Code Bill The Hindu code bills were several laws passed in the 1950s that aimed to codify and reform Hindu personal law in India, abolishing religious law in favor of a common law code. Following India's independence in 1947, the Indian National Congress ...

, he took a more active role in state affairs. In 1962, after serving 12 years as the president, he announced his decision to retire. After relinquishing the office of the

in May 1962, he returned to

on 14 May 1962 and preferred to stay in the campus of Bihar Vidyapeeth. His wife died on 9 September 1962, a month before

Indo-China War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of V ...

. He was subsequently honoured with

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinctio ...

, the nation's highest civilian award. He died on 28 February 1963, aged 78. Rajendra Smriti Sangrahalaya in

is dedicated to him.

In popular culture

''Babu Rajendra Prasad'' is 1980

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by Manjul Prabhat and produced by the

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...

which covers the life of the first president of India.

Bibliography

* ''Satyagraha at Champaran'' (1922) * ''Division of India'' (1946) * ''Atmakatha'' (1946), his autobiography written during his 3-year prison term in

Bankipur Jail The Bankipur Central Jail was a colonial prison located in Patna in the state of Bihar, India. Many notable dissidents such as Rajendra Prasad, Brajkishore Prasad, Srikrishna Sinha, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Mulana Mazharul Haque and J. B. Kripalani ...

* ''Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, Some Reminiscences'' (1949) * ''Bapu Ke Kadmon Mein'' (1954) * ''Since Independence'' (published in 1960) *''Bharatiya Shiksha'' *''At the feet of Mahatma Gandhi''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prasad, Rajendra 1884 births 1963 deaths Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Surendranath College alumni Indian Hindus Indian independence activists from Bihar 20th-century Indian lawyers Members of the Constituent Assembly of India People from Siwan district Recipients of the Bharat Ratna Presidents of India Presidents of the Indian National Congress University of Calcutta alumni Surendranath Law College alumni University of Calcutta faculty City College, Kolkata faculty Members of the Council of the Governor General of India