Rajendra Prasad was a Kayastha Hindu who was born in Zeradai, Bihar's Siwan district. His father, Mahadev Sahai, was a Sanskrit and Persian scholar, and his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a pious woman who told her son stories from the Ramayana.
During the Indian Independence Movement, Rajendra Prasad joined the Indian National Congress. He developed to become one of the region's prominent leaders and was a strong follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He was India's first and longest-serving President, and he contributed to the country's freedom movement. He was an ardent participant in the 1931 Salt Satyagraha and the 1942 Quit India Movement. He was imprisoned alongside many other prominent freedom activists.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was a key figure in the creation of the Indian Constitution. In 1962, he received the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna. Dr. Rajendra Prasad died at the age of 78 on February 28, 1963.
Everything you need to know about Dr. Rajendra Prasad:
Prasad graduated from Calcutta Law College after growing up in a landowning family of modest means. He began his legal career in the Calcutta High Court, then moved to the Patna High Court in 1916, when he started the Bihar Law Weekly.
In 1917, Mahatma Gandhi enlisted him to assist in a campaign to improve circumstances for peasants mistreated by British indigo planters in Bihar. In 1920, he left his law profession to join the noncooperation movement.
He was an English lecturer at a college in Bihar before pursuing a legal degree. Dr. Rajendra Prasad taught in a college in Kolkata while studying law. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in law from Allahabad University.
Prasad was elected as India's first President by the Constituent Assembly when the country became a republic in 1950. Following the 1951 general election, he was chosen President by the electoral college of India's first Parliament and state legislatures.