Rajendra Prasad

The Story

Born in Ziradei, Bihar, into a family of scholars, Prasad was a student of extraordinary brilliance who topped the masters examinations of Calcutta University. He became a distinguished lawyer, but his life turned when he met Gandhi — and from the Champaran satyagraha of 1917 onward, he gave up the law for the struggle, enduring imprisonment many times.

He served as Congress President twice, and in 1946 he became the President of the Constituent Assembly — presiding over the three years of debate that produced Bhārat's Constitution. It was his signature, as the assembly's president, that graced the Constitution when it was adopted on 26 January 1950.

That same day he was sworn in as the first President of Bhārat, and he served for twelve years, setting the dignity and humility of the office. He refused the grand lifestyle of office — living simply, and even returning to his village to farm after his tenure. He died in 1963, and his simplicity is remembered as the model of public life of Bhārat.