Many people from Bihar played a leading role in India’s struggle for independence. Dr Rajendra Prasad was one of them. Born at Ziradei in Saran on December 3, 1884, he was the youngest son of Mahadev Sahai, a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit language.
Dr Rajendra Prasad or Rajen, as he was known to his family and friends, was instrumental in the formation of the Bihari students’ Conference in 1908. It was the first organization of its kind in the whole of India, and would later produce many of the important figures of Bihar.
Dr Prasad enjoyed an illustrious career, first as a teacher and principal and later as a lawyer at Bhagalpur, where he eventually emerged as a popular and eminent figure of the region. In 1916, Dr Prasad joined the high court of Bihar and Orissa. Such was his integrity that often, when his adversary failed to cite a precedent, the judges would ask him to provide the same.
At the height of his career, Dr Prasad realized the necessity to plunge into the Indian independence movement. Mahatma Gandhi asked him to accompany the volunteers on one of the fact-finding missions at Champaran. Rajendra Prasad was so touched by Gandhi’s conviction that he quit his duties in the university to respond to the clarion call. In line with Gandhi’s boycott of western educational establishments, he asked his son Mrityunjaya Prasad to drop out of his studies and enrol himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, a traditional institution founded by him and his colleagues.
He wrote articles as well as raised funds for the revolutionary publications, ‘Searchlight’ and Desh’. More importantly, he undertook extensive tours to exhort the people to join the independence movement.
The 1914 floods of Bihar and Bengal, a testing period for one all, saw Dr Prasad offering unconditional help and support to those affected. Later, during the earthquake of Bihar in 1934, he set about on the task of raising funds to help the people and collected over Rs 38 lac, three times what the Viceroy of India had raised!
His service on the various fronts of the movement for independence raised his profile considerably. Dr Prasad presided over the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress in October 1934. Following the resignation of Subhash Chandra Bose as the president of the Congress in April 1939, Dr Prasad was elected president. He did his best to heal the rift between the incompatible ideologies of Bose and Gandhi. Rabindranath Tagore wrote to Dr Prasad, “I feel assured in my mind that your personality will help to soothe the injured souls and bring peace and unity into an atmosphere of mistrust and chaos…”
In July 1946, when the Constituent Assembly was established to frame the Constitution of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected its president. Two and a half years after independence, on January 26, 1950, the Constitution of independent India was ratified and Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected the nation’s first President.
In 1962, after 12 years as president, Dr Prasad retired, and was subsequently awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award. The many tumults of his accomplished life compelled Dr Prasad to chronicle his life’s journey in books such as Satyagraha at Champaran (1922), India Divided (1946), his auto-biography, Atmakatha (1946), Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, some Reminisences (1949), and Bapu ke kadmon Mein (1954).
Dr Prasad spent the last few months of his life in retirement at the Sadaqat Ashram in Patna. The death of this son of Bihar on February 28, 1963, marked the end of an era for free India.
Dr Rajendra Prasad or Rajen, as he was known to his family and friends, was instrumental in the formation of the Bihari students’ Conference in 1908. It was the first organization of its kind in the whole of India, and would later produce many of the important figures of Bihar.
Dr Prasad enjoyed an illustrious career, first as a teacher and principal and later as a lawyer at Bhagalpur, where he eventually emerged as a popular and eminent figure of the region. In 1916, Dr Prasad joined the high court of Bihar and Orissa. Such was his integrity that often, when his adversary failed to cite a precedent, the judges would ask him to provide the same.
At the height of his career, Dr Prasad realized the necessity to plunge into the Indian independence movement. Mahatma Gandhi asked him to accompany the volunteers on one of the fact-finding missions at Champaran. Rajendra Prasad was so touched by Gandhi’s conviction that he quit his duties in the university to respond to the clarion call. In line with Gandhi’s boycott of western educational establishments, he asked his son Mrityunjaya Prasad to drop out of his studies and enrol himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, a traditional institution founded by him and his colleagues.
He wrote articles as well as raised funds for the revolutionary publications, ‘Searchlight’ and Desh’. More importantly, he undertook extensive tours to exhort the people to join the independence movement.
The 1914 floods of Bihar and Bengal, a testing period for one all, saw Dr Prasad offering unconditional help and support to those affected. Later, during the earthquake of Bihar in 1934, he set about on the task of raising funds to help the people and collected over Rs 38 lac, three times what the Viceroy of India had raised!
His service on the various fronts of the movement for independence raised his profile considerably. Dr Prasad presided over the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress in October 1934. Following the resignation of Subhash Chandra Bose as the president of the Congress in April 1939, Dr Prasad was elected president. He did his best to heal the rift between the incompatible ideologies of Bose and Gandhi. Rabindranath Tagore wrote to Dr Prasad, “I feel assured in my mind that your personality will help to soothe the injured souls and bring peace and unity into an atmosphere of mistrust and chaos…”
In July 1946, when the Constituent Assembly was established to frame the Constitution of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected its president. Two and a half years after independence, on January 26, 1950, the Constitution of independent India was ratified and Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected the nation’s first President.
In 1962, after 12 years as president, Dr Prasad retired, and was subsequently awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award. The many tumults of his accomplished life compelled Dr Prasad to chronicle his life’s journey in books such as Satyagraha at Champaran (1922), India Divided (1946), his auto-biography, Atmakatha (1946), Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, some Reminisences (1949), and Bapu ke kadmon Mein (1954).
Dr Prasad spent the last few months of his life in retirement at the Sadaqat Ashram in Patna. The death of this son of Bihar on February 28, 1963, marked the end of an era for free India.
