Guwahati News Desk: On Friday, 3 December, the statue of the first President of India and Bharat Ratna Dr. Rajendra Prasad was unveiled at the Raj Bhawan in Guwahati by the Governor of Assam Professor Jagadish Mukhi. Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and grand daughter of Rajendra Prasad, Tara Sinha were also present in this program. The program took place today to mark the 137th birth anniversary of Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid tributes on his birth anniversary and praised him for his impeccable contribution to the freedom struggle against the British. The PM also went on to add that he was a unique talent and that he dedicated his life to serving his people and upholding the national interest of India. This example would serve as a source of inspiration for millions of people in this country.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was born on 3 December 1884 in Ziradei in the Siwan district of Bihar to a Kayastha family. His father was a scholar of both Sanskrit and Persian languages and his mother was a devout woman who would recite stories of the Ramayana and Mahabharata to him. After the completion of his traditional elementary education, he was sent to the Chapra District School. He then went to study at T.K. Ghosh’s Academy in Patna for a period of two years.
Thereafter, he managed to secure first in the entrance examination to the University of Calcutta and was awarded Rs. 30 per month as a scholarship and subsequently joined the Presidency College in 1902 as a science student initially. 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. He was a prolific student and an examiner once commented on his answer sheet that the “examinee is better than examiner.”
Before joining politics, he happened to be a lawyer and a teacher. He later joined the Congress Party in 1911 and became actively involved in the freedom struggle. He was inspired by the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and even managed to meet him during the Lucknow Session of the Indian National Congress in 1916.
He was put behind bars by the British authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of 1931 and the Quit India movement of 1942. After the constituent assembly 1946 elections, Prasad served as Minister of Food and Agriculture in the central government. He was the only President to serve two full terms when he was re-elected to the Presidency in 1957.
Prasad played a major role in forming the Bihari Students Conference in 1906 and also served as the president of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution of India. He was also the first Agriculture Minister of Independent India.
