Rajendra Prasad | Biography & Facts

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Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. </div> <div class="label mt-20 mb-10">Select Citation Style</div> <select class="js-citation-format-select form-select"> <option selected value="mla">MLA</option> <option value="apa">APA</option> <option value="chicago">Chicago Manual of Style</option> </select> <div class="citation font-serif border rounded p-15 mt-20" data-authors="The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica" data-title="Rajendra Prasad" data-published-date="18 Sep. 2024" data-url="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rajendra-Prasad" > <div class="citation-text"></div> </div> <button class="js-copy-citation-button mt-20 btn btn-xs btn-outline-blue border shadow-sm pr-10" > <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 my-n5 mr-5" data-icon="file_copy"></em> <span class="js-citation-status-text">Copy Citation</span> </button> </div> </div> </div> <div> <button class="js-share-modal-button js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=473971] .md-share-modal"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="share"></em> Share </button> <div class="md-share-modal size-lg d-none qa-share-modal"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif d-flex align-items-center pb-15 border-bottom"> <em class="material-icons text-blue mr-10" data-icon="share"></em> Share </div> <div class="label my-20">Share to social media</div> <div class="md-social-toolbar-circle d-flex align-items-start inverted" data-value="share" title="Rajendra Prasad" data-url="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rajendra-Prasad" > <a class="social-icon facebook justify-content-center d-flex align-items-center align-self-center" data-provider="facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/BRITANNICA/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Facebook</span></a> <a class="social-icon x justify-content-center d-flex align-items-center align-self-center" data-provider="x" href="https://x.com/britannica" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>X</span></a> </div> <div class="label pt-20 mt-20 mb-5 border-top">URL</div> <a class="font-serif text-truncate d-inline-block" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rajendra-Prasad">https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rajendra-Prasad</a> </div> </div> </div> <div> <button class="js-feedback-modal-button js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal=".md-feedback-modal"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="message"></em> Feedback </button> </div> <div> <button class="qa-external-website-modal-button js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=473971] .md-websites-modal"> <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 mr-5" data-icon="link"></em> External Websites </button> </div> </div> <div class="md-feedback-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom"> Feedback </div> <form method="post" action="/submission/feedback/473971"> <div class="my-20"> Corrections? 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He also was a comrade of <span id="ref118361"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mahatma-Gandhi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mahatma Gandhi</a> early in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/noncooperation-movement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">noncooperation movement</a> for independence and was president of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indian-National-Congress" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Indian National Congress</a> (1934, 1939, and 1947).</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Raised in a landowning family of modest means, Prasad was a graduate of the Calcutta Law College. He practiced at the Calcutta High Court and in 1916 transferred to the Patna High Court and founded the <em>Bihar Law Weekly</em>. In 1917 he was recruited by Gandhi to help in a campaign to improve conditions for peasants exploited by British <a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/indigo-plant-genus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">indigo</a> planters in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Bihar" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Bihar</a>. He gave up his law practice in 1920 to join the noncooperation movement. Becoming an active journalist in the nationalist interest, he wrote for <em>Searchlight</em> in English, founded and edited the Hindi weekly <em>Desh</em> (“Country”), and started his lifelong campaign to establish <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindi-language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hindi</a> as the national <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/language" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">language</a>. Imprisoned several times by the British for noncooperation activities, he served nearly three years (August 1942–June 1945) in jail with the Congress Party’s Working Committee.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In September 1946 Prasad was sworn in as minister for food and agriculture in the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="interim" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interim" data-type="MW">interim</a> government preceding full independence. From 1946 to 1949 he presided over the Indian <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Constituent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Constituent" data-type="MW">Constituent</a> Assembly and helped to shape the constitution. He was unanimously elected president in 1950 and, after the first general election (1952), was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the new electoral college; in 1957 he was elected to a third term.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Prasad retired from public life in 1962 because of his deteriorating health. That same year he was honoured with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bharat-Ratna" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Bharat Ratna</a>, India’s highest civilian award. His autobiography, <em>Atmakatha</em>, was published in 1946. He is also the author of <em>India Divided</em> (1946), <em>Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, Some Reminiscences</em> (1949), and other books.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/contributor/encyclopaedia-britannica/12989892">Encyclopaedia Britannica</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":473971,"pageLength":305,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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