Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President Of India, was born on 3 December 1884 in a small village called Jiradei in the Chhapra district of Bihar. The qualities of Dr Rajendra Prasad are countless. His father, Shri Mahadev Sahai, was well-versed in Persian. He also had good knowledge of legalese. Through that, he served the people a lot. Rajendra Babu’s ancestors had settled in Bihar from Uttar Pradesh. There was a princely state Hathwa near Jiradei village. Rajendra Babu’s grandfather Shri Chaudhary Lal was the Diwan of this princely state. Rajendra Babu’s father, Shri Mahadev Sahai, used to come home to look after the Zamindari. The child Rajendra was brought up in great love. Slowly he started growing up under the love and protection of his family members.
Life Sketch Of Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Childhood
Since childhood, the child Rajendra was very calm. When the boy Rajendra was 5 years old, his education was arranged. In those days, it was not a practice to admit children directly to the school. Maulvi Sahib used to come to the house to start education before going to school. Maulvi Sahib began to go to the house to make Rajendra aware of the alphabet. Rajendra’s childhood and early education were spent in the village itself, so his life was deeply affected by the simple living of the village, which was seen till the end.
After primary education, he was admitted to a school in Chhapra. Along with him, his elder brother Mahendra Prasad also studied in the same school in class X. In those days, marriages were done at a very young age. When Rajendra was about 12 years old, Mahadev Sahay Ji also started worrying about his marriage. He got Rajendra married to a girl from a village named Dal Chhapra in Ballia district. After passing the matriculation examination from Chhapra’s school, Rajendra was admitted to the President’s College, Kolkata, for further studies. He has been very quick to study since childhood, so even on the strength of his dedication and hard work, he used to come first in every class.
College life Of Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Rajendra Babu from Presidency College, Kolkata, also passed the FA examination in the first division. As a result of this extraordinary success, he started getting a scholarship of Rs. 50 monthly. After passing the FA examination, Rajendra Babu also passed the BA examination with a higher grade. Due to BA Honors in two subjects, he now got two scholarships. After passing the BA examination, Rajendra Babu started preparing for MA, but during the same time, his father died. He had to leave his studies and come home. Rajendra Babu’s enthusiasm diminished a bit with the death of his father. For this reason, he could not come first in the MA examination, and later, he passed the examination in 1904.
Around 1905, the propaganda of the Swadeshi movement was in full swing. A vow was being taken to adopt indigenous goods, and foreign goods were being boycotted. Rajendra Babu already used indigenous items. Still, whatever foreign objects he had at that time, he burnt them all. In 1996, Rajendra Babu also participated in the Kolkata session of Congress as a volunteer. At that convention, he got the opportunity to listen to the speeches of great patriots like Lokmanya Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and Dadabhai Naroji. Then, it taught the feeling of patriotism in his mind.
Patriotism
Rajendra Babu received invitations from many universities for the post of the profession. He started teaching work at Muzaffarpur College, but he did not get satisfaction in this work. After about 10 months, he decided to leave teaching and study law. For this, he again went to Kolkata. Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded the “Servant of India Society” when Rajendra Babu studied law in 1909. Gokhale Ji knew Rajendra Babu very well, so he invited Rajendra Babu to join this society for the country’s service. Gokhale’s ideas and his insistence deeply influenced Rajendra Babu. Then, the spirit of patriotism became stronger in him.
In 1911, Bihar became a separate province, and 1 year later, in 1912, Patna High Court was established. By then, Rajendra Babu had started his practice. First, he was practicing law in Kolkata, and then after establishing Patna High Court, he started practicing there. Gradually Rajendra Babu became very famous as a lawyer. In 1917, Gandhiji launched the Champaran Satyagraha movement. Rajendra Babu was very impressed by Gandhiji’s style of work in Champaran and his patriotism. He later wrote a book titled ‘Mahatma Gandhi in Champaran’.
First journey of jail
The arrival of the Prince of Wales to India was announced in 1921. People all over India boycotted the arrival of the Prince. Also, Pandit Motilal Nehru in Uttar Pradesh and Rajendra Babu in Bihar were leading this Satyagraha. The government got Rajendra Babu and other ruling elites arrested. It was Rajendra Babu’s first jail visit.
Qualities Of Dr Rajendra Prasad
Even after this, he went to jail many times. Dr. Rajendra Prasad always tried to follow in the footsteps of Gandhiji. Gandhiji was very impressed by the creative work he did in Bihar. A devastating earthquake struck Bihar on 15 January 1934. Rajendra Babu was ill at that time. He was brought from jail and admitted to Patna Hospital. He was released from prison two days after the earthquake. After leaving the jail, Rajendra Babu also engaged in relief work. This great work of relief continued for a year. This work presented examples of Rajendra Babu’s organizational power and amazing efficiency in front of the country. Rajendra Babu’s dedication, understanding, and humility to serve the country were commendable. These are the qualities of Dr Rajendra Prasad.
Food minister
In 1934, the Congress session was held in Mumbai. Rajendra Babu was made the President of this session. A grand ceremony was held to welcome him to Mumbai. Rajendra Babu’s memory power was extraordinary. Every single incident of his life was inscribed on his memory board. Also, he did not use any diary to write his autobiography. In his nineteen hundred-page autobiographies, he wrote the history of his life as easily as if he was describing a thing of yesterday. In 1946, an interim government was formed under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Rajendra Babu was made the food minister. He liked this department because he considered himself a farmer, and he could do true service to the poor farmers only by staying in this department.
President Of India
After India got independence, a committee was formed To Make A New Constitution For India. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was made the President of this Constituent Assembly. When the constitution was ready, Dr. Rajendra Prasad attained the highest position in the country. Still, he never gave up the qualities like his innate humility and love for the common person. Despite being the President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad never separated himself from the common person. When he went to Rashtrapati Bhavan, he got most of the furnishings of the British era removed from there. He got a wooden plank for himself and always used the same for sleeping. This shows the qualities of Dr Rajendra Prasad.
Rajendra Babu was first elected to the post of President on 26 January 1950. After completing the term of 6 years, he was made the President for the second time in 1955. It was a testament to the nation’s reverence for his great personality. In 1962, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor. After retiring from the post of President, Rajendra Babu started living in Sadaqat Ashram in Patna. The soul of this great personality of the country merged with God on 28 February 1963. All the countrymen will always be indebted to Rajendra Babu for the important service to the country in various forms.
You must log in to post a comment.