Published By: Nibandh Vinod
Last Updated: December 03, 2023, 06:20 IST
Rajendra Prasad was born on 3 December, 1884 in Bihar. (Image: Shutterstock)
Dr Rajendra Prasad was a freedom fighter, a teacher and a lawyer. He is the only Indian President to have been re-elected for two consecutive terms.
Dr Rajendra Prasad was the first president of independent India. He was born on 3 December, 1884 in Siwan, Bihar. Dr. Prasad was a freedom fighter, a teacher and a lawyer. He was a keen follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s principles and ideologies. He is the only Indian President to have been re-elected for two consecutive terms. He was elected in 1952 and 1957. Dr. Prasad was a key member in drafting India’s constitution. He was conferred with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 1962. Dr Rajendra Prasad breathed his last on February 28, 1963, at the age of 78.
10 Facts About Dr. Rajendra Prasad
1. Dr. Prasad is the only president to serve two full terms. He stayed in office for the longest term of around 12 years.
2. Dr Rajendra Prasad’s father, who was a scholar, hired a Maulavi to teach him Persian.
3. Dr. Prasad was a professor of English at a college in Bihar before pursuing a career in law.
4. He was active in establishing the ‘Bihari Students Conference’ in ‘Patna College Hall’ in 1906.
5. In 1917, he was a part of a campaign to better the plight of Bihar’s peasants, who were being oppressed by British indigo planters.
6. He was an active participant of ‘Satyagraha Movement’, ‘Champaran Movement’ and the ‘Quit India Movement’ and was therefore imprisoned by the Britishers during India’s freedom struggle.
7. During his imprisonment in Bankipur Jail for three years, he wrote his autobiography, ‘Atmakatha’.
8. In response to Gandhi’s call for a boycott of western educational institutions, he told his son, Mrityunjaya Prasad, to drop out of school and enroll in Bihar Vidyapeeth. The institution was developed by him and his friends on an Indian traditional model.
9. In October 1934, Dr. Prasad was elected President of the Indian National Congress (INC) during the Bombay session.
10. During his regime as president of India, the Mughal Gardens at the Rashtrapati Bhavan were opened to the public for the first time for about a month. It has since become a major tourist attraction in Delhi.
10 Quotes By Dr. Rajendra Prasad
- “Nobody can push me aside.”
- “In attaining our ideals, our means should be as pure as the end.”
- “We must remember all those people who sacrifice their lives for freedom.”
- “More importantly, I also understand my age and am in a better position to appreciate it.”
- “What is wrong in theory is not right in practice also.”
- “There is no resting place for a nation or a people on their onward march.”
- “Actors can’t keep dashing around the woods forever.”
- “I am certain that your personality will aid in the healing of wounded souls and the restoration of peace and harmony in an environment of distrust and confusion.”
- “With weapons of mass devastation at man’s disposal now, the human species itself is in grave risk of extinction.”
- “For the first time in our long and tumultuous history, we found the whole huge territory… united under the authority of a single constitution and a single union, which assumes responsibility for the care of the more than 320 million men and women who occupy it.”
