Dr Rajendra Prasad

Dr Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963) was a freedom fighter of India and the first President of the country from 26 January 1950 to 13 May 1962 after independence in 1947. He was born in an obscure village in the Saran district of Bihar. He was follower of the Gandhian principle. Mahadev Sahay was his father and Kamleshwari Devi his mother. He was married early at the age of 13 to Rajbanshi Devi. When he passed the entrance examination of Calcutta University at the age of 18 in 1902 he was already married for 5 years. In 1904, as a third year student, he won the first annual election for the post of Secretary of the Presidency College Union. He had a brilliant academic career with a First in the M.A. and a First in Master of Law.

He had been already been initiated into the cult of 'Swadeshi'. He became a legal practitioner in Calcutta in 1911. He joined Indian National Congress and participated in the freedom movement. When the Congress Ministries were formed in 1937, it was the Parliamentary Board consisting of Sardar Patel, Rajendra Babu and Maulana Azad, which really and effectively provided guidance and control. In 1939 when Subhas Chandra Bose had to be relieved of the office of the Congress President, it was Rajendra Prasad who was persuaded to face the crisis and overcome it. The Congress faced another crisis when Acharya Kripalani resigned and Rajendra Babu had to step into the breach, even though he happened to be India's Food and Agriculture Minister and President of the Constituent Assembly. His stewardship of the Constituent Assembly was exemplary.

His elevation to the Presidentship in 1950 came as a matter of course. As President, he exercised his moderating influence and moulded policies or actions so silently and unobtrusively that many were led to think that, unlike any other Head of State, he neither reigned nor ruled. He never worried about what people said about him. He never looked into the mirror of history. There were occasions when he differed from the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. But that was nothing new. They had differed for almost three decades and yet worked together in the Congress.

It 1960, he announced his intention to retire. The 1961 illness, severed and protracted, shattered Rajendra Prasad's health completely, but remained the President until 13 May 1962. His wife died early in September 1962. No wonder, his last days were days of agony. The Chinese aggression in October 1962 had shaken him completely. He died on 28 February, 1963.

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