When India became a republic in 1950, Prasad waselected as 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 government on several occasions. In 1957, Prasad wasre-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.
Prasad was born on 3 December 1884 in aKayastha family inZiradei,Bengal Presidency,British India (now inSiwan district, Bihar, India).[1][2] His father, Mahadev Sahai,[3] was a scholar of bothSanskrit andPersian. His mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a devout woman who would tell him stories from theRamayana andMahabharata. 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.[4][5][6][7]
After the completion of traditional elementary education, he was sent to theChhapra 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 inPatna for a period of two years. He secured first in the entrance examination to theUniversity of Calcutta and was awarded Rs. 30 per month as a scholarship.
Prasad joined thePresidency College, Calcutta in 1902, initially as a science student. He passed the F. A. under theUniversity of Calcutta in March 1904 and then graduated with a first division from there in March 1905.[8] Impressed by his intellect, an examiner once commented on his answer sheet that the "examinee is better than examiner".[9] 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 theEden Hindu Hostel. A devoted student as well as a public activist, he was an active member ofThe Dawn Society.[10] It was due to his sense of duty towards his family and education that he refused to joinServants 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 ofPatna College. It was the first organisation of its kind in India and produced[11] important leaders fromBihar likeAnugrah Narayan Sinha andShri Krishna Singh who played a prominent role in the Champaran Movement andNon-cooperation Movement.
Prasad served in various educational institutions as a teacher. After completing his M.A in economics, he became a professor of English at theLangat Singh College ofMuzaffarpur inBihar and went on to become the principal. However, later on he left the college to undertake legal studies and entered theRipon College, Calcutta (now theSurendranath Law College). In 1909, while pursuing his law studies inCalcutta he also worked as Professor of Economics atCalcutta City College.[12]
In 1915, Prasad appeared in the examination of master's in law from theDepartment of Law, University of Calcutta, passed the examination and won a gold medal. He completed his Doctorate in Law fromAllahabad University. 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 atBhagalpur, the famous silk town in Bihar.[13]
Prasad had a major role in the Independence Movement. Prasad's first association withIndian National Congress was during 1906 annual session organised in Calcutta, where he participated as a volunteer, while studying in Calcutta. Formally, he joined theIndian National Congress in the year 1911, when the annual session was again held in Calcutta.[14] During the Lucknow Session of Indian National Congress held in 1916, he metMahatma Gandhi. During one of the fact-finding missions atChamparan,Mahatma Gandhi asked him to come with his volunteers.[15] He was so greatly moved by the dedication, courage and conviction of Mahatma Gandhi that as soon as the motion ofNon-Cooperation was passed byIndian National Congress 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 byGandhi to boycott Western educational establishments by asking his son, Mrityunjay Prasad, to drop out of his studies and enroll himself inBihar Vidyapeeth, an institution he along with his colleagues founded on the traditional Indian model.[16]
Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai, and Rajendra Prasad (centre) at the AICC Session, March 1939
During the course of the independence movement, he interacted withRahul Sankrityayan, a writer, and polymath. 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 publicationsSearchlight and theDesh and collected funds for these papers. He toured widely, explaining, lecturing, and exhorting the principles of the independence movement.[15]
He took an active role in helping people affected by the 1914 floods that struck Bihar andBengal. 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 colleagueAnugrah Narayan Sinha.[17] 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 May1935 Quetta earthquake, when he was forbidden to leave the country due to government's order, he set up the Quetta Central Relief Committee inSindh andPunjab under his own presidency.
He was elected as the President of theIndian National Congress during the Bombay session in October 1934.[18] He again became the president whenSubhash Chandra Bose resigned in 1939.[19] On 8 August 1942, Congress passed the Quit India Resolution in Bombay which led to the arrest of many Indian leaders.[20] Prasad was arrested inSadaqat Ashram, Patna and sent toBankipur Central Jail. After remaining incarcerated for nearly three years, he was released on 15 June 1945.[20]
After the formation ofInterim Government of 12 nominated ministers under the leadership ofJawaharlal Nehru on 2 September 1946, he was allocated the Food and Agriculture department. He was elected as the President ofConstituent Assembly on 11 December 1946.[21] On 17 November 1947 he became Congress President for a third time afterJ. B. Kripalani submitted his resignation.[18]
Two and a half years after independence, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of independent India was ratified, and he waselected as the firstPresident of India. On the night of 25 January 1950 (a day before theRepublic Day 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 in1952 and1957 and is the only President of India to achieve this feat. TheMughal Gardens at theRashtrapati Bhavan 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.[23]
Prasad acted independently of political parties, following the expected role of the president as required by the constitution. Following the tussle over the enactment of theHindu Code Bill, he took a more active role in state affairs. In 1962, after serving 12 years as president, he announced his decision to retire. After relinquishing the office of the President of India in May 1962, he returned toPatna on 14 May 1962 and stayed on the campus of Bihar Vidyapeeth.[24] His wife died on 9 September 1962, a month beforeIndo-China War. He was subsequently honoured withBharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian award.
^M.K. Singh, ed. (2009).Encyclopaedia Of Indian War Of Independence (1857-1947). Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd. p. 99.His father, Mahadev Sahai, was a Persian and Sanskrit language scholar; his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a devout women who would tell stories from the Ramayana to her son.
^ab"Dr Rajendra Prasad".The Tribune (Chandigarh). Tribune India. Tribune Trust. 9 April 2000.Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved24 May 2020.
^Sethi, Atul (12 August 2007)."Distant dads?".The Times of India.Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved28 June 2023.
^Sharma, Arvind K. (1986). "Subhas Chandra Bose and Tripuri Congress Crisis (1939)".Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.47. JSTOR:498–506.JSTOR44141585.
Rajendra Prasad, first President of India, by Kewalram Lalchand Panjabi. Published by Macmillan, 1960.
Rajendra Prasad: twelve years of triumph and despair, by Rajendra Lal Handa. Published by Sterling Publishers,1979.
Dr Rajendra Prasad, Correspondence and Select Documents, by Rajendra Prasad, Valmiki Choudhary. Published by Allied Publishers, 1984.ISBN81-7023-002-0.Excerpts (Vol. 1-Vol. 10)
Dr Rajendra Prasad by India Parliament.Lok Sabha. Published by Lok Sabha Secretariat, 1990.
Rajendra Prasad and the Indian freedom struggle, 1917–1947, by Nirmal Kumar. Published by Patriot Publishers, 1991.ISBN81-7050-128-8.
Dr Rajendra Prasad: Political Thinkers Of Modern India, by V. Grover. Published by Deep & Deep Publications, 1993.
First Citizens of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad to Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma: Profile and Bibliography, by A. B. Kohli. Published by Reliance Pub. House, 1995.ISBN81-85972-71-0.
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