Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was born on 3rd December 1884. He was the first President of India and first President of the Constituent Assembly. He served as President of Indian National Congress in 1934. He followed Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was his disciple and has a lot of contribution in India’s freedom struggle. He was a teacher, a lawyer and a role model for many of us.

Childhood

Rajendra Prasad was born in Bihar to Mahadev Sahai, a scholar of both Persian and Sanskrit language and Kamleshwari Devi, a religious woman. He was the youngest of all his siblings. He was very attached to his mother and elder brother Mohendra.

Education

Rajendra Prasad studied Persian, Hindi and Arithmetic. He was a brilliant student. In 1902, he stood first in the entrance examination for Calcutta University to take admission in Presidency College and got monthly scholarship too. Later he changed his focus from Science to Arts and completed dual master degrees in Arts in Economics and Law and passed with first division and won gold medal too. In 1937, he completed his Doctorate in Law from Allahabad University. He was a dedicated and sincere student and an active member of the dawn society. He was instrumental and a great politician. He formed Bihari student’s conference in 1906 in Patna College.

Career

Dr. Rajendra Prasad wished to pursue his career as a teacher and for that matter he served in various educational institutions. He became a professor of English at Langat Singh college of Muzzafarpur and progressed to become the principal. After that he served Calcutta City College as a Professor of Economics. In 1916, he joined the court of Bihar and Orissa (now Odisha). He was appointed as the member of Senate and Syndicate of the Patna University. He had many literary contributions too like Satyagraha at Champaran, Atmakatha, Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, Some Reminiscences, Bapu ke Kadmon Mein, Since Independence and Bharitya Shiksha.

After becoming the disciple of Gandhiji, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, got engrossed in freedom struggle. He played an active role during Non-Cooperation Movement and got arrested in 1931 while participating in Salt Satyagraha. As soon as Dr. Rajendra Prasad was released from the jail he immediately set himself for the task of raising funds. Again in 1942, he was arrested for his active participation in Quit India Movement.

In 1950, he was elected the first President of India and was re-elected in 1957 and became the only person to hold the office twice as President of India.

At the End

After he took retirement from Politics in 1962, he was awarded nation’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna. After such an enormous contribution towards the country he died on 28 February, 1963.